Axios

Intensifying protests in Hong Kong — continuing weeks after the shelving of a controversial extradition law — have fueled a broader struggle over the city's character and future.

Why it matters: Hong Kong remains an important financial gateway from China to the world, although Shanghai and other mainland cities have taken on part of that role. Above all, the central government in Beijing wants to avoid the precedent of a popular political movement successfully challenging President Xi and the authority of the Communist Party.

San Francisco and Santa Clara counties filed a lawsuit Tuesday challenging a Trump administration move to penalize immigrants who use or are likely to use public benefit programs such as food stamps, housing assistance or Medicaid.

Why it matters: Per Axios' Stef Knight, the rule would make it much harder for immigrants with low incomes or low levels of education to obtain visas or green cards. And it would be much harder for immigrants already in the U.S. to stay longer, change their immigration status or become citizens if they have used any of the specified safety net programs.

The current Guatemalan government's "safe third country" asylum agreement with the Trump administration won't work because Guatemala doesn't have the resources, President-elect Alejandro Giammattei told AP in an interview published Wednesday.

"In order to be a safe country, one has to be certified as such by an international body, and I do not think Guatemala fulfills the requirements to be a third safe country. That definition doesn’t fit us."

Former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams will not run for president in 2020 and instead plans to launch a new voting rights program called Fair Fight 2020, the New York Times reports.

Context: Abrams lost Georgia's governor's race in 2018 to Gov. Brian Kemp, who she later described as an "architect of voter suppression." Kemp removed around 107,000 people from Georgia's voter rolls in 2017 for not voting in previous elections, amid a large-scale purge that affected about half a million voters.

Articles about Joe Biden generated 3.8 million interactions on social media last week — more than that of any other candidate since June — but they were overwhelmingly on stories about his recent blunders. according to data from NewsWhip provided exclusively to Axios.

Why it matters: While Biden's congressional record and moderate credentials are baked into his candidacy — and may be working to his benefit — his recurrent gaffes could invite questions about his mental acuity and fitness for office.

If President Trump watches "Fox & Friends" Wednesday, he'll see a new ad featuring Democratic presidential candidate Julián Castro talking directly to him and blaming him for the El Paso mass shooting.

Ken Cuccinelli, the acting head of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, tweaked the famous poem inside the Statue of Liberty during an interview on NPR's "Morning Edition" to defend the Trump administration's rule that would penalize immigrants who use or are likely to use public benefit programs such as food stamps, housing assistance or Medicaid.

"Give me your tired and your poor who can stand on their own two feet and who will not become a public charge."

The Democratic group 314 Action, which supports candidates with a science background, is launching a six-figure "Draft Hickenlooper" campaign Tuesday to encourage John Hickenlooper to drop out of the 2020 presidential race and instead run for Senate, Axios has learned.

Why it matters: Hickenlooper would almost certainly win the nomination for Senate — he's favored by 61% of Democratic primary voters in Colorado, according to a new poll by the Garin-Hart-Yang Research Group.

The Trump administration's recently finalized “public charge” rule — which would make use of certain public assistance programs by immigrants grounds for denying lawful permanent residence — extends a series of policy changes that could negatively affect the health of both legal and undocumented immigrants in the U.S.

Why it matters: Health insurance, nutrition benefits and housing assistance are all linked to health outcomes, particularly in children. Although the 46 million immigrants in the U.S. are generally healthier and use fewer health resources than native-born residents, additional barriers to care could increase rates of obesity, malnutrition and transmission of communicable diseases.