680 immigrants were arrested Wednesday by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents at 7 food processing plants in small towns in Mississippi, the AP reports.
Why it matters: ICE Acting Director Matthew Albence said these could be the largest workplace raids ICE has had in more than a decade, and likely the biggest for any single state, per the AP. This comes just a few weeks after ICE raids that reportedly targeted thousands of immigrants resulted in just 35 arrests. ICE detention facilities still hold thousands more migrants than Congress has approved funding for.
The Trump administration has frozen at least $2 billion in foreign aid and ordered a review of the spending, which has already been approved by Congress, reports the Washington Post.
Why it matters: President Trump is circumventing Congress in a move one Democratic aide told the NYT could "set a precedent for future administrations to ignore spending bills and eliminate spending obligations."
After June's Democratic presidential debates,Sen. Kamala Harris has gone from a high of 20% of Democratic voters who favor her to just 7% on Tuesday, per Quinnipiac.
Why it matters: That 13-point drop in just one month indicates Harris' post-debate "sugar-high" might not be aging well, despite the fact that she's firmly established herself in the top tier of candidates in several national 2020 polls.
After the mass shootings last weekend,gun violence has displaced immigration as the most-talked about news topic on social media for the first time since May, according to data from NewsWhip provided exclusively to Axios.
Why it matters: The emotional intensity of gun violence makes it a topic that generates ferocious debate and calls for action on social media after a high-profile event. Yet the activism is cyclical, and the issue has yet to be a defining issue in elections.
Fears of a major currency devaluation by China have gripped the market in recent days, but if history is a guide, it's really a dollar devaluation that should worry investors.
The big picture: President Trump's dissatisfaction with the dollar's strength and the boiling trade war with China are setting the stage for a second Plaza Accord, or this time a "Mar-a-Lago Accord," experts say, with the dollar falling and the yuan rising.
Joe Biden is set to take on President Trump's rhetoric directly following the mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton in a speech in Burlington, Iowa, Wednesday afternoon, saying the president "has fanned the flames of white supremacy in this nation."
Why it matters: From the very beginning of his 2020 campaign, the former vice president has pitched himself as a direct counter to Trump, choosing to focus on the "climate of the nation."
President Trump mocked Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke's Hispanic nickname in a late-night tweet ahead of his visit to the former congressman's hometown of El Paso Wednesday to honor victims of the city's mass shooting.
Why it matters: ABC News notes that Trump's Twitter attack is in direct opposition to the conciliatory tone he struck when he condemned racism following Saturday's massacre, saying "Now is the time to set destructive partisanship aside." O'Rourke has said Trump is a "white nationalist" who encourages racism and violence in the U.S.
EDINA, Minn. — After three deadly mass shootings in one week, some swing voters here are ready to ban assault weapons and institute federal background checks on all gun purchases.
That was one of the main takeaways from our Engagious/FPG focus group on Monday, which included 7 people who flipped from Barack Obama to Donald Trump and 4 who switched from Mitt Romney to Hillary Clinton.
Why it matters: While this is not a statistically significant sample like a poll, the responses show how some voters want the government to respond to the mass shootings that have shocked the nation. But there's still a long way for Congress to go before solutions like these are implemented.
Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio.) announced his support Tuesday for banning military-style weapons, limiting magazines and implementing so-called "red flag" legislation to "quickly identify people who are dangerous and remove their ability to harm others."
Why it matters: Turner previously served as mayor of Dayton, Ohio, and now represents the city — one of the 2 communities struck by mass shootings last weekend. In a statement, Turner wrote, "I understand not every shooting can be prevented or stopped from these measures, but I do believe these steps are essential."
President Trump, his 2020 campaign and the RNC sued California Tuesday over its law that requires presidential and gubernatorial candidates to release their 5 most recent years' tax returns before they can appear on the state's primary ballot.
The big picture: The California law directly challenges Trump's continued refusal to release his tax returns, but the lawsuits argue it violates the Constitution by creating an extra requirement to become president.
White nationalism — a racist extremism that was confined to the ugly fringes for most of our lives — is a growing major danger in America.
The big picture: Racial resentment and anxiety have been a central appeal for Donald Trump and his rhetoric among the working-class, forgotten Americans who put him over the top, and who are at the core of his re-election strategy.
Despite broad efforts to crack down on misinformation ahead of the 2020 election, the primary season so far has been chock full of deceptive messages and misleading information.
Why it matters: More sophisticated tactics that have emerged since 2016 threaten to derail the democratic process by further polluting online debate. And the seemingly unending influx of fakery could plant enough suspicion and cynicism to throw an otherwise legitimate election into question.
White House counselor Kellyanne Conway clashed with CNN's Christiane Amanpour over President Trump's divisive rhetoric during a heated interview Monday on the mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, last weekend.
Why it matters: Several Democratic presidential candidates have labeled Trump a racist for his hardline immigration policies and Twitter attacks on lawmakers of color. Former Texas congressman Beto O'Rourke told CNN that Trump is a "white nationalist" who is encouraging more racism and violence in the U.S.
The big picture: Trump condemned racism and white supremacy during an address to the nation earlier Monday.
All 4 living former Fed chairs co-signed an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal Monday, warning of the troubles with a Federal Reserve beholden to short-term politics instead of independently working to meet its mandates of maximum employment and stable prices.
Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke told Pod Save America Monday that he favors abolishing the filibuster in order to enact gun control legislation.
Why it matters: The former Texas congressman has been a vocal figure since a mass shooting at an El Paso Walmart left 22 dead on Saturday. The event has triggered renewed attention to gun control legislation, with a focus on two background check bills passed by the House but not yet heard in the Senate.
