A majority of young people feel President Donald Trump is unfit for office, according to an AP-NORC/MTV poll. Trump has a 33% approval rating among Americans between ages 15 and 34 and a majority of them feel he "is a racist," "generally dishonest" and "mentally unfit" to be president.
Why it matters: Traditionally, younger people have lower voter turnout in midterm elections; In 2014, only 20 percent of 18-29 year olds cast ballots. But young people's dissatisfaction could motivate them to vote against the GOP this fall.
Scott Pruitt, the head of the EPA, has been paying $50 per night for a bedroom in an apartment near Capitol Hill, according to a Bloomberg report. This follows criticism over Pruitt’s first class flights as administrator, as well as several other cabinet members’ spending habits.
The cause for concern: The owner of the apartment is a health care lobbyist, Vicki Hart. Her husband, J. Steven Hart, has clients who are in industries that are regulated by the EPA, although it isn't clear if Hart had direct contact with the EPA regarding his client. Pruitt has been paying in lump sums sporadically, without a typical month to month payment, per Bloomberg. An ethics counsel at the EPA, Justine Fugh, said it isn’t an ethics concern because he is paying rent.
Over the past 5 days, a growing caravan of hundreds of Central Americans, almost 80% from crime-ridden Honduras, have been making their way through Mexico unprohibited to the U.S., Buzzfeed News reports.
Why it matters: The caravan was organized by a group called Pueblos Sin Fronteras as a way to help migrants safely reach the U.S., avoiding dangerous cartels and immigration law enforcement. Most hope to skirt U.S. immigration enforcement when they arrive or be granted asylum. The caravan has grown substantially with more than 1,000 men, women and children and Mexican immigration authorities have given up on trying to stop them.
The State Department plans to ask all visa applicants (both immigrant and non-immigrant) to hand over their social media handles from the past five years as part of their extreme vetting process, CNN first reported. The Department's proposals are expected to be published in the federal register on Friday.
Big picture: The State Department's move would effect almost 15 million would-be immigrants, according to the proposals. Last fall, the Department of Homeland Security also began collecting social media from immigrants, green card holders and naturalized citizens.
New internal polling conducted for the DCCC by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research suggests that Democratic candidates running in swing districts "must express a willingness to work with the President when his agenda might help the district." The survey also recommends that Democrats "not appear out of sync with what people believe about the economy."
Why it matters: President Trump's election unleashed the far-left wing of the Democratic Party, but moderate Democrats are the party's likely path to the majority. This new polling warns Democrats away from campaigning specifically against Trump and, instead, toward embracing the improving economy with a message focused on the middle class.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement will no longer automatically release pregnant women from detention, but will look at each case individually, the Daily Beast reports.
Why it matters: This yet another example of DHS and the Trump administration toughening up on enforcing immigration laws.
Since 2015, more than 90,000 spouses of H-1B workers with pending green cards have acquired work authorization in the U.S. — a policy the Trump administration plans to end — and 93% of them are women.
Why it matters: Women will be disproportionately affected by the end of work authorization for certain H-4 visa holders — up to 84,935 of them could lose their jobs. Because there are fewer restrictions on the kind of employment H-4 workers can pursue than H-1B workers, these work visas have allowed for the promotion of women entrepreneurship and small business, Leon Fresco, and immigration lawyer who works with H-1B and H-4 holders, told Axios.