Apr 9, 2019 - Politics & Policy

16 Democratic senators call for ICE to reinstate release of all pregnant women

A pregnant Honduran immigrant stands in line for a bus leaving McAllen, Texas in 2016. Photo: John Moore/Getty Images

16 Democratic senators have demanded that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) reinstate an Obama-era rule for the presumptive release for all pregnant women, citing a stillborn birth in a Texas immigration center in February and an increase in miscarriages, NBC reports.

The big picture: President Trump "ended the presumption of release for all pregnant detainees" last March through an executive order. ICE said it now evaluates on a case-by-case basis and takes "special factors" into consideration, and provides appropriate care to pregnant women in custody. In its argument to reinstate the Obama-era rule, the letter referenced a USA Today article that states at least 28 women have had miscarriages while in ICE custody over the past 2 years.

Read the letter here:

Go deeper: Trump's new border plan is his most aggressive yet

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Ina Fried, author of Login
Updated 12 mins ago - Technology

Amazon launches new Alexa-enabled hardware

Amazon's new spherical Echo smart speaker. Screenshot: Axios

Amazon debuted a range of new Ring, Fire TV and Echo hardware on Thursday, including more environmentally sustainable versions of its audio and video gear. Among the products introduced are a cloud gaming service, a home monitoring drone and new spherical designs for its Echo and Echo dot smart speakers.

Why it matters: Amazon, like rivals Google and Apple, typically gives its consumer hardware a launch ahead of the holidays. Apple has already introduced new iPads, while Google has scheduled a Sept. 30 event, where it is expected to debut new audio and video gear, alongside updated Pixel phones.

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Felix Salmon, author of Capital
24 mins ago - Economy & Business

Why money laundering persists

Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios

2 million suspicious activity reports, or SARs, are filed by banks every year. Those reports are sent to the U.S. Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), which has the job of determining whether the reports are evidence of criminal activity, and whether that activity should be investigated and punished.

The catch: FinCEN only has 270 employees, which means that FinCEN is dealing with a ratio of roughly 150 reports per employee per week. So it comes as little surprise to learn that most of the reports go unread, and the activity in them unpunished.

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Felix Salmon, author of Capital
29 mins ago - Economy & Business

The American economic paradox

Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios

It's the rebound economists didn't see coming.

Why it matters: America did nothing that should have been necessary to really get the economy moving again. We didn't get the coronavirus under control, and we gave up on fiscal stimulus after a single short-lived round of it. Nevertheless, we're about to close out by far the strongest quarter of economic growth in American history.

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