US Politics

One of the last known survivors of the Tulsa race massacre of 1921 has died, his family has confirmed in a statement.Hughes Van Ellis died from cancer Monday night at the age of 102, his family said.He was one of the most outspoken activists for reparations over the massacre and fought for them on behalf of Tulsa’s Black community for decades. But, his grandnephew Ike Howard told CNN: “He died waiting on justice.”The family’s statement added: “Two days ago, Mr Ellis urged us to keep fighting for justice. In the midst of his death, there remains an undying sense of right and wrong. Mr Ellis was assured we would remain steadfast and we repeated to him, his own words, ‘We are one,’ and we lastly expressed our love.”The Tulsa race massacre was one of the deadliest cases of racist violence in US history. It began when a white mob stormed an area of Greenwood in Tulsa, Oklahoma, referred to as “Black Wall Street” because it was one of the wealthiest Black communities in the US at the time.More than 35 city blocks of homes, businesses and churches were in ruins after the mob looted them and set them on fire. Historians estimate up to 300 people died.Black Wall Street was never able to rebuild. And by the end of the 20th century, any hopes of doing so were squashed by city planners who claimed eminent domain on the land.Known to his loved ones as “Uncle Red”, Ellis survived the massacre as a baby after escaping the mob with his family.He grew up to be a proud military veteran, having fought with a racially segregated US army battalion in the second world war. His family called him a “loving family man”.In 2021, Ellis testified in Congress with other survivors about the effects the massacre from a century earlier inflicted on his family and his community.Speaking before a House judiciary subcommittee to demand reparations for the massacre, Ellis said: “You may have been taught that when something is stolen from you, you can go to the courts to be made whole. You can go to the courts to get justice. This wasn’t the case for us. The courts in Oklahoma wouldn’t hear us. The federal courts said we were too late.“We were made to feel that our struggles were unworthy of justice. That we were less valued than whites, that we weren’t fully American. We were shown that in the United States, not all men were equal under law. We were shown that when Black voices called out for justice, no one cared.”He added: “Please do not let me leave this earth without justice, like all the other massacre survivors.”Shortly after, Joe Biden declared 31 May 2021 a day of remembrance for the Tulsa Race Massacre 100 years earlier.Although Ellis was a plaintiff in a lawsuit against the city of Tulsa and seven other defendants demanding restitution for the massacre, the case was dismissed by an Oklahoma judge in July. And no financial reparations have been awarded to the massacre survivors, their descendants or the victims’ descendants.Furthermore, “not one of these criminal acts was then or ever has been prosecuted or punished by government at any level: municipal, county, state, or federal,” according to the Tulsa Historical Society and Museum.The last two known survivors of the massacre are Ellis’s older sister, 109-year-old Viola Fletcher, with whom he escaped; and Lessie Benningfield Randle, 108. More

Once again, the Middle East looms large in US politics. Hamas’s attack on southern Israel will reverberate in the weeks and months to come. On Monday, Joe Biden announced that 11 Americans were killed. Already, the political fallout is being felt in the White House and Capitol Hill, in California and in New York.The strains between the Biden administration and Benjamin Netanyahu’s government have subsided. As a result, the Republicans can no longer try to lay sole claim to the pro-Israel card heading into the 2024 elections.On Sunday, the US president and Netanyahu spoke by phone. The White House readout of the call was unambiguous, referring to Hamas as “terrorists” and adding that: “The two leaders committed to stay in regular contact over the coming days.”Then, on Monday, Biden took things further. “The ties between Israel and the United States run deep … the American people stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Israelis,” he announced in a statement. “The US and the State of Israel are inseparable partners.”This is all a big deal. Until recently, Netanyahu and Biden had not been the closest of friends. The prime minister’s ongoing gambit to curb the independence of Israel’s judiciary coupled with the presence of hardline Jewish supremacists in his cabinet complicated things.Team Biden has not generally been keen to roll out a red carpet to Israel’s longest serving prime minister. Unlike Benny Gantz, Israel’s former defense minister and the head of an opposition party, Netanyahu has not yet been to the White House. The nearest he came to Biden was at the sidelines of the opening of the UN general assembly. Netanyahu is expected to officially visit the US by year’s end.Responding to Israel’s request, the US is poised to arm the Jewish state. On Sunday, Lloyd Austin, the US secretary of defense, ordered the Ford carrier strike group to the eastern Mediterranean in a show of support. For the record, the USS Gerald R Ford is the navy’s latest and most advanced carrier.How exactly the uptick in relations between the US and Israel plays out remains to be seen. Right now, the Senate is in recess and the Republican-led House lacks a speaker. Until the House elects a permanent successor to Kevin McCarthy, doubt surrounds the ability of Congress to appropriate supplemental funds to Israel. Likewise, Ukraine and the Mexico border wall may complicate things, too.Beyond that, abortion politics may hinder administration attempts to replenish Israel’s stockpiles. Right now, Alabama’s Republican senator Tommy Tuberville, the ex-Auburn football coach, is holding up confirmation of hundreds of Pentagon officials over abortion policy. Some of them stand to be involved in weapons transfers.Apparently, the freshman senator forgot that the US supreme court’s decision in Dobbs gutting abortion rights cost the Republican party control of the Senate and turned a much-anticipated “red wave” in the House into a trickle, leaving McCarthy to suffer at the hands of Matt Gaetz and his fellow arsonists.In addition, the Senate has yet to act on the nomination of Jack Lew as US ambassador to Israel. An Orthodox Jew and Harvard graduate, Lew served as treasury secretary under Obama. In August, the rightwing and Republican-aligned Zionist Organization of America announced its opposition to his nomination.Then there is also the issue of normalization of Israeli-Saudi relations. Right now, normalization no longer appears to be on the front burner.The Hamas attack also shook internal Democratic politics. In California’s Senate race, Congressman Adam Schiff is the only one of the three leading Democratic candidates to voice unambiguous support for Israel. By contrast, Representative Katie Porter condemned the loss of lives on both sides. Representative Barbara Lee called for a ceasefire and offered her prayers for Israelis and Palestinians alike.Yet it was in New York City where the left’s not-so-subterranean skirmishes over Israel burst into the open. On Sunday, several hundred pro-Palestinian demonstrators chanted “Globalize the intifada”, and “Smash the settler Zionist state”. They also taunted Israel over the number of people killed. The Democratic Socialists of America was an event sponsor. Expect middle-America to be turned off by these antics.Kathy Hochul, New York’s governor, blasted the rally as “abhorrent and morally repugnant”. Representative Ritchie Torres, a Bronx congressman, wrote: “There is a special place in hell for those who glorify the cold-blooded murder of civilians and children.”Joe Biden may yet be the last unalloyed pro-Israel Democratic president. But right now, it is he who sets the tone of US policy.
Lloyd Green is an attorney in New York and served in the US Department of Justice from 1990 to 1992 More

From 5h agoRobert F Kennedy Jr has officially announced that he will be running for US president as an independent.“I’m here to declare myself an independent candidate for president of the United States,” Kennedy said to applause and chants.Before announcing his run, Kennedy thanked his wife and children, his campaign staff, and other members of his family.The 69-year old had previously been running for the Democratic nomination for president, the only person to challenge Joe Biden for the nomination.But over the weekend, Kennedy teased a “much-anticipated announcement” about his campaign.Kennedy, a member of the Kennedy political family, has received backlash for peddling antisemitic conspiracy theories that Covid-19 was designed to spare Chinese and Ashkenazi Jews.That’s it for our US politics blog.Here’s what happened today:
Robert F Kennedy Jr officially announced that he will be running for US president as an independent. “I’m here to declare myself an independent candidate for president of the United States,” Kennedy said during a campaign event in Philadelphia.
The siblings of Kennedy Jr denounced their brother’s campaign, calling it “perilous” for the US. “Bobby might share the same name as our father, but he does not share the same values, vision or judgment. Today’s announcement is deeply saddening for us,” read the siblings’ statement in part.
More centrist Republicans are already casting doubt on Representative Jim Jordan as a potential House speaker. Lawmakers passed around a mailer from Jordan’s campaign, raising concerns about his potential priorities as House speaker.
At least nine US citizens have died in Israel amid Israel’s war with Hamas. US state department spokesman Matthew Miller confirmed the deaths on Monday, adding that some US citizens have not been accounted for.
McCarthy has not ruled out a return to his former position of House speaker, if House lawmakers were still at a gridlock over the position.
Republican House representatives faced mounting pressure to rally around a House speaker candidate after the ousting of former speaker Kevin McCarthy. Only two candidates have tossed their hat in the ring for the role: House majority leader Steve Scalise, a representative of Louisiana, and Ohio representative Jim Jordan, who is the judiciary chairman.
Thank you for following our politics live blog.Stay tuned for more updates tomorrow.More on Tuberville blocking military promotions from the Guardian’s Oliver Milman:
Tuberville, a former Auburn University football coach turned Alabama senator, has indicated he will maintain the blockade even in the wake of the assault on Israel, in which at least 700 mostly civilians are thought to have died, including several hundred revelers killed at a music festival, while dozens more people are believed to have been taken hostage. Israel has responded with airstrikes on the Gaza Strip that authorities in the penned-in territory say has killed at least 493 Palestinian people, including entire families sheltering in their apartments.
US military appointments currently in limbo include top officers slated to command American forces in the Middle East, and two picks for the joint chiefs of staff. Separately, the US also does not have an ambassador to Israel, its close ally; Democrats have called for a swift confirmation of the nominee, Jack Lew.
Joe Biden has previously called Tuberville’s stance “totally irresponsible”, and the president accused him of undermining the strength and capabilities of the US military. But the Alabama senator said on Sunday that even the attack on Israel would not shift his position.
“The Pentagon clearly thinks forcing taxpayers to facilitate abortion is more important than confirming their top nominees without a vote,” a Tuberville spokesperson told NBC. “They could end this situation today by dropping their illegal and immoral policy and get everyone confirmed rapidly, but they refuse.”
Invoking a name Tuberville calls himself because of his prior job, the spokesperson added: “If the Biden administration wants their nominees confirmed then Senate Democrats can do what Coach just did in September and file a cloture petition to force a vote.”
Military nominees are usually bundled together and confirmed by a voice vote in the Senate to speed along appointments, but under Senate rules a single senator can hold up this process. Chuck Schumer, the Democratic Senate majority leader, has said that individual votes on each of the nominees would eat up a huge amount of time, and urged Republicans to get Tuberville “in line”.
Read the full article here.Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville appears to not be lifting holds on military promotions, despite fighting in Israel, the Hill reports.Tuberville has been criticized by other lawmakers who say that his hold on military promotions is affecting US readiness, especially in light of the Israel-Hamas war.Democratic senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island said in a Sunday interview that the recent escalation in fighting “underscores the foolishness” of Tuberville’s actions.Tuberville’s spokesperson Steve Stafford responded, saying in part:“The hold is still not affecting our readiness and it’s certainly not affecting the readiness of other countries.”Tuberville has held military promotions for seven months because of a Pentagon policy that covers travel for service members seeking abortion care.Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez released a statement on Monday regarding the violence in Israel. She said: “Today is devastating for all those seeking a lasting peace and respect for human rights in Israel and Palestine. I condemn Hamas’ attack in the strongest possible terms. No child and family should ever endure this kind of violence and fear, and this violence will not solve the ongoing oppression and occupation in the region. An immediate ceasefire and de-escalation is urgently needed to save lives.”Cortez, along with other members of ‘the squad’ have long been vocal against the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories. Others also further to the political left, including house representative Cori Bush also called for a ceasefire and condemned both Hamas militants and the Israeli military on the ongoing violence. Representative Rashida Tlaib, who is Palestinian said she grieves the “Palestinian and Israeli lives lost yesterday, today, and every day.” She did not outright mention Hamas.“As long as our country provides billions in unconditional funding to support the apartheid government, this heartbreaking cycle of violence will continue.”The US’s secretary of the army Christine Wormuth has called for more congressional funds to support Israel with munitions.In the annual meeting of the association of the US army held on Monday, Wormuth said: “To be able to increase our capacity… to expand production, and then to also pay for the munitions themselves, we need additional support from Congress.”Biden has already said Israel has “rock-solid and unwavering” support from the US and US defense secretary Lloyd Austin said the US will send munitions.Military ships and aircraft have already been ordered to move closer to Israel.The US contributes about $3bn annually to Israel, the largest current recipient of United States military aid.Biden is speaking with several US allies about the Israel-Hamas war, according to White House officials.Biden spent the morning being brief on the situation by his national security team.Remarks from Biden on the developing situation were expected Monday morning, but have been postponed after the White House announced a “lid” for the day.The White House has called a “lid” for the day, meaning Biden will not be delivering any remarks.The lid could be lifted if Biden decides to make remarks later on or attend an event.The decision to call a lid is surprising. The White House previously announced that Biden would speak about the Israel-Hamas war on Monday afternoon.Meanwhile, Republicans have condemned the decision to call a lid.Florida governor and US presidential candidate Ron DeSantis has criticized the White House and called for immediate steps, including shutting down the US southern border.From DeSantis campaign spokesperson Carly Atchison:The siblings of Robert F Kennedy Jr have denounced their brother’s campaign, calling it “perilous” for the US.The Kennedy siblings said that Robert’s announcement to run as a third party candidate was “dangerous to our country”, in a post to X, formerly known as Twitter.“Bobby might share the same name as our father, but he does not share the same values, vision or judgment. Today’s announcement is deeply saddening for us,” read the statement in part.Kennedy has largely embraced that his campaign and platform rejects dogmatism, arguing that people can have different opinions and still tolerate them.“People can disagree and still respect each other. You can be pro-choice and not think that pro-lifers are women hating zealots. You can support the second amendment and not think that gun control advocates are totalitarians who hate freedom.”“It’s more than being independent of two existing parties. It’s also independence from tribal thinking,” Kennedy said of his political philosophy.“It’s freedom from the reflex of having to take sides.”Kennedy is not the only candidate running as an independent in the US presidential election.Academic and activist Cornel West is also running in the US election as an independent.West previously ran for US president as a a Green party candidate, but dropped from the party last Thursday.Read a recent interview with West and Robert Tait for the Guardian, available here. More

Robert F Kennedy Jr’s run for the White House as an independent candidate is “perilous” for the US, his siblings said in a statement on Monday, immediately following their brother’s campaign launch in Philadelphia.“The decision of our brother Bobby to run as a third party candidate against Joe Biden is dangerous to our country,” said sisters Rory Kennedy, Kerry Kennedy and Kathleen Kennedy Townsend; and brother Joseph P Kennedy II in a statement posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.“Bobby might share the same name as our father, but he does not share the same values, vision or judgment. Today’s announcement is deeply saddening for us. We denounce his candidacy and believe it to be perilous for our country.”All are children of Robert F Kennedy, the Democratic former US attorney general and New York senator who was assassinated in 1968, and his widow Ethel, 95, founder of the Robert F Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights.It is not the first time Kennedy family members have criticized their relative, a noted conspiracy theorist and anti-vaxxer. In July, Kerry Kennedy, chair of the Robert F Kennedy human rights center, denounced as “deplorable and untruthful” Robert F Kennedy Jr’s claim that Covid was engineered to target some ethnic groups and spare others.In an email to the Guardian, Rory Kennedy said: “There is a great deal of hate in the world and remarks like Bobby’s only serve to fuel that hate. Such conspiracy mongering not only creates more divisiveness, it actually puts people’s lives in danger.”skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionThe Democratic former Massachusetts congressman Joe Kennedy III, Robert F Kennedy’s nephew, and US special envoy to Northern Ireland, said in a tweet: “My uncle’s comments were hurtful and wrong. I unequivocally condemn what he said.” More

Robert F Kennedy Jr, the scion of the Kennedy political family who has spent the last six months running for the 2024 Democratic presidential nomination, announced on Monday he would continue his long-shot pursuit of the White House as an independent.The 69-year-old conspiracy theorist and vaccination opponent gave a fiery speech from Philadelphia, declaring his “independence from the Democratic party and all other parties”, and telling a gathering of several hundred supporters of his “pain” at leaving the party of his uncle and father, John F Kennedy and Robert F Kennedy.“I’m here to declare myself an independent candidate for president for the United States. I’m here to join you in making a new declaration of independence for our entire nation,” he said, in a lengthy and often rambling speech taking aim at Wall Street, big pharma, military contractors, the “mercenary media”, and the “two-party establishment” he said was “leading us all over a cliff”.“A rising tide of discontent is swamping our country. There’s a danger in this discontent but there’s also opportunity and promise,” he added, in what appeared to be a reference to the leading Republican candidate, Donald Trump.“We seem to be cycling from despair to rage and back to despair. This country is ready for a history making change. They are ready to reclaim their freedom, their independence.”The launch, however, was glitchy, with Kennedy leaving the stage briefly as soon as he was introduced, complaining he could not see his speech on the autocue, then struggling to find his stride.And his campaign was immediately assailed as “perilous” for the US in a tweet by prominent Kennedy family members.“Bobby might share the same name as our father, but he does not share the same values, vision or judgment. Today’s announcement is deeply saddening for us. We denounce his candidacy and believe it to be perilous for our country,” sisters Rory Kennedy, Kerry Kennedy, and Kathleen Kennedy Townsend; and brother Joseph P Kennedy II said in the message.Kennedy, who announced that he was running against Joe Biden for the Democratic nomination in April, has been polling at an average of 15% among Democrats nationwide. Other polls show he is more popular among Republicans than Democratic party supporters.But while his chances of winning the election are close to non-existent, his candidacy could still play a significant role as a spoiler. Analysts are divided on whether Kennedy running as an independent would harm the Republicans or Democrats more.“The Democrats are frightened I’m going to spoil the election for President Biden, and the Republicans are frightened that I’m gonna spoil it for President Trump,” he said. “The truth is, they’re both right. My intention is to spoil it for both of them.”Over the past six months, Kennedy, who has a track record of promoting conspiracy theories and a long history of opposing vaccines, has struggled to make inroads into Biden’s support.The nephew of John F Kennedy, and son of Robert F Kennedy, both Democrats who were assassinated, has drawn ire for false comments about wifi causing “leaky brain” and chemicals in water causing gender dysphoria.In July he was accused of antisemitism after he claimed that Covid had been targeted to spare Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese people from the worst impacts of the disease; the same month, the Congressional Integrity Project, a political watchdog, released a report that details Kennedy’s meetings with and promotion of racists, antisemites and extremist conspiracy theorists.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionSince launching his campaign Kennedy has repeatedly appeared on Fox News, the rightwing news channel, and has also featured in podcasts of Steve Bannon, the former Trump adviser, and Alex Jones, a rightwing conspiracy theorist.Kennedy was introduced in Philadelphia by a procession of speakers, including his wife, the actor Cheryl Hines, and his campaign manager Dennis Kucinich, a Democratic congressman for Ohio from 1997 to 2013.Another speaker was Lewis Grassrope, an elder of the South Dakota’s Lower Brule Sioux Tribe, who said he was using indigenous people’s day to call for a healing of political division. “The left wing and right wing are always fighting. If they are always fighting, how are we to become one?” he said, before delivering a prayer in a native American language.Monday’s announcement was also streamed live on YouTube, the broadcast reaching barely 23,000 viewers at its peak.Republicans immediately attempted to distance themselves from Kennedy, insisting in a talking points memo there was “very little daylight between RFK Jr and a typical Democratic politician”.The memo from the Republican National Committee (RNC) listed 23 reasons for Republican voters to reject him, including Kennedy’s previous support for Democratic presidential candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, and support for Democratic positions over the climate emergency, the economy and abortion.“RFK Jr knows full well he’ll ‘take more votes’ from the Republican nominee; that’s why he’s running,” the RNC memo said. More

The Republican senator Tommy Tuberville has said he will continue to block hundreds of military leadership appointments despite the Hamas attack on Israel, a close American ally, that has triggered a deadly escalation in the Middle East conflict.Tuberville has for several months put a hold on at least 300 military nominees, which are typically confirmed in a routine manner by the US Senate. His blockade is a protest over a Pentagon policy that facilitates abortions for service members and dependents.Tuberville, a former Auburn University football coach turned Alabama senator, has indicated he will maintain the blockade even in the wake of the assault on Israel, in which at least 700 mostly civilians are thought to have died, including several hundred revelers killed at a music festival, while dozens more people are believed to have been taken hostage. Israel has responded with airstrikes on the Gaza Strip that authorities in the penned-in territory say has killed at least 493 Palestinian people, including entire families sheltering in their apartments.US military appointments currently in limbo include top officers slated to command American forces in the Middle East, and two picks for the joint chiefs of staff. Separately, the US also does not have an ambassador to Israel, its close ally; Democrats have called for a swift confirmation of the nominee, Jack Lew.Joe Biden has previously called Tuberville’s stance “totally irresponsible”, and the president accused him of undermining the strength and capabilities of the US military. But the Alabama senator said on Sunday that even the attack on Israel would not shift his position.“The Pentagon clearly thinks forcing taxpayers to facilitate abortion is more important than confirming their top nominees without a vote,” a Tuberville spokesperson told NBC. “They could end this situation today by dropping their illegal and immoral policy and get everyone confirmed rapidly, but they refuse.”Invoking a name Tuberville calls himself because of his prior job, the spokesperson added: “If the Biden administration wants their nominees confirmed then Senate Democrats can do what Coach just did in September and file a cloture petition to force a vote.”Military nominees are usually bundled together and confirmed by a voice vote in the Senate to speed along appointments, but under Senate rules a single senator can hold up this process. Chuck Schumer, the Democratic Senate majority leader, has said that individual votes on each of the nominees would eat up a huge amount of time, and urged Republicans to get Tuberville “in line”.Tuberville objects to a Pentagon policy that does not itself perform abortions but provides time off and travel assistance to members of the military that require reproductive healthcare.The US secretary of defense, Lloyd Austin, has said that the policy safeguards the healthcare and combat readiness of service members and is widely popular within the military.Abortion has been effectively banned in several states following the US supreme court’s decision to overturn Roe v Wade last year – a move decried by progressives but lauded by conservatives like Tuberville.“The severity of the crisis in Israel underscores the foolishness of Senator Tuberville’s blockade,” said Jack Reed, a Democrat who leads the Senate armed services committee.“The United States needs seamless military leadership in place to handle dangerous situations like this and Senator Tuberville is denying it. This is no time for petty political theater, and I again urge Republican colleagues to help actively end Senator Tuberville’s damaging blockade.” More

The Republican US congressman Matt Gaetz claims it would not matter to him if he lost his seat in Congress for leading the ouster of his fellow party member Kevin McCarthy as US House speaker last week.Asked Sunday on NBC’s Meet the Press whether McCarthy’s removal as House speaker would be worth losing his job over, Gaetz responded: “Absolutely. Look, I am here to fight for my constituents.”Gaetz, a Florida representative, on Tuesday followed through on months of threats to boot McCarthy from the speakership after the Republican congressman from California struck a deal with Democrats to avoid a government shutdown at the beginning of October. Gaetz sided with seven other far-right House Republicans and all Democrats in the chamber to strip McCarthy of his role, making him the first speaker in US history to be removed.In response, some House Republicans have openly talked about kicking Gaetz out of their caucus. That manoeuvre would require approval of two-thirds of House Republicans.A more extreme option on the table is to move for Gaetz’s expulsion from Congress altogether, which would also require two-thirds of the House to vote in favor of it.“I don’t see how they can really be part of a conference when they come on the inside, listen to what is going on, and then [go] outside and lob bombs into the middle,” Republican congressman Dave Joyce of Ohio told CNN. Joyce, the Republican Governance Group’s chairperson, added: “It’s a waste of time having conversations with these people.”In his conversation on Sunday with Meet the Press host Kristen Welker, Gaetz said it was nonsense that House Republicans would consider kicking him out of either their caucus or the legislative body.“The voters of Florida’s first congressional district sent me here with about 70% of the vote,” Gaetz said, alluding to his comfortable margin of victory during his re-election run in last year’s midterms. “So I think that anyone trying to kick me out of Congress because they didn’t like me would have a bone to pick with them.“They want to expel me from Congress? That’s crazy.”Welker asked Gaetz whether it was irresponsible for him to successfully plot McCarthy’s ouster as House speaker without a clear replacement. Gaetz argued that Republicans – who hold a thin majority in the House – have “two men who are incredibly respected” ready to succeed McCarthy as speaker.The remark referred to the two Republican congressmen who have announced bids to run for the vacant speakership: Jim Jordan of Ohio and Louisiana’s Steve Scalise, who is the House majority leader.Gaetz declined to endorse one over the other on Monday. He only said he was “heartened” to talk with both “on their specific plans on spending and single-subject appropriations bills” ahead of a House vote to select a new speaker that is tentatively expected to occur in the coming days.“If either of those men get the most support in the conference, I’m eager to vote for them on the floor,” Gaetz said. More

The Biden administration’s plan to erect a new section of border wall is disappointing not only because it contradicts a campaign promise, nor just because physical barriers are a return to the same tired policy responses of the Trump era.Rather, this week’s news around the project – slated for a rural region along the Texas-Mexico border – is upsetting most of all because it stands in stark contrast to the solutions the US immigration system needs right now.Even the highest walls often do not deter desperate migrants and asylum seekers from trying to reach the US. That was true during the previous administration, and it remains true today. Instead, those barriers leave people who cross anyway at higher risk of injury and death, contributing to a growing list of casualties that has turned the US-Mexico border into the world’s most lethal land migration route.Already, blowback to renewed border wall construction has been swift and intense. Representative Henry Cuellar, Biden’s fellow Democrat whose large south Texas district includes the county with the new planned barriers, called it “a 14th-century solution to a 21st-century problem”. To conservation advocates, it means bulldozing “irreplaceable” habitats. Some of the local communities say it feels like “a slap in the face” that will “punish the most innocent”.And, for national immigration advocates, it is yet another letdown that demonstrates a disregard for human dignity within a larger broken immigration system.Given the absence of legislative reforms, and given pressure on the Biden administration to reduce irregular migration, the US-Mexico border is chaotic these days, though not necessarily in the way most Americans think.In the name of deterrence, people fleeing for their lives who might otherwise qualify for asylum are being presumed ineligible because of how they arrived, under a policy that has already been ruled unlawful yet remains in place. Many thousands of non-Mexicans are suddenly being sent back across the border to Mexico, a foreign country where they likely have next to no support or contacts, and where they face grave danger of sexual assault, kidnappings, extortion and other violence.In light of a humanitarian emergency and political repression in Venezuela, the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has allowed Venezuelans who made it here by the end of July to access deportation protections and work authorization. Yet Venezuelans arriving today can be directly deported to the same authoritarian regime where US officials explicitly acknowledged a few weeks ago that people could not safely return.Similarly, the Biden administration continues to repatriate Haitians, even as it tells Americans and non-emergency government personnel to depart Haiti for security reasons.Meanwhile, DHS has removed or returned over 36,000 migrant family members in the last few months – more than in any previous full fiscal year. The unluckiest of asylum seekers, families included, are being put through particularly fast-tracked deportations, where they often confront a higher bar to qualify for protection and have almost no time to prepare their case.This tangle of convoluted policies demonstrates why more walls are not the answer that the US’s immigration policy strategy needs: it’s already a labyrinth. Barrier after barrier – some more visible than others, but all formidable – work together to confuse, limit and disqualify people trying to reach the US.Even so, the restrictions have not stopped newcomers.Border patrol documented over 181,000 migrant encounters between official ports of entry at the US-Mexico border in August. That number is expected to rise in September, with early estimates showing roughly 210,000 apprehensions last month, according to CBS News.To try to get here, little girls cry as they crawl beneath razor wire, and in some of the most tragic cases, kids are dying. Amid this humanitarian emergency, a sprawling border wall – to use Biden’s own words – “is not a serious policy solution”. Neither is the House GOP’s sweeping but specious legislative proposal, the Secure the Border Act, which continues to take an enforcement-only approach to immigration by gutting asylum, curtailing other existing lawful pathways, establishing new criminal penalties, and more.There’s so much work Democrats and Republicans – the White House and Congress – should take up. For one, the Biden administration could expand processing capacity at official ports of entry and let more migrants in there, even if they don’t have a pre-scheduled appointment through a government phone app, and without rendering them ineligible for asylum. That way, children and families could walk across an international pedestrian bridge with far less struggle than they can wade through a river or stumble through the desert.Ultimately, however, the buck stops with Congress. The best, most proactive way to keep many people from showing up at the US-Mexico border is to offer them a safer, more orderly pathway here, but such immigration avenues are in woefully short supply right now.It will take both parties working together in good faith to address border security and improve the legal immigration system, a compromise supported by the vast majority of American voters. Lawmakers can expand labor pathways, update the US’s humanitarian protections to meet 21st-century challenges, and offer permanent solutions for people who are already here contributing while stuck in a protracted legal limbo.In other words, they can fight arbitrary cruelty and chaos at the border by making our immigration system work again.
Alexandra Villarreal is a policy and advocacy associate at the National Immigration Forum. More