The Trump administration proposed expanding its DNA testing program to include undocumented immigrants in government custody, per a draft copy of the plan obtained by Buzzfeed News.
What we know: The Department of Justice proposal would allow the extraction of DNA from undocumented immigrants in Customs and Border Protection's (CBP) custody. If implemented, hundreds of thousands of people could be subjected to testing annually, adding an expected 20,000 work hours for CBP officials. The proposal does not prohibit Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from participating in the testing, but does require them to do so, either.
Immigrants battling severe illnesses who would ordinarily be given special, temporary protection from deportation have been told those protections are no longer available and they must leave the U.S. within 33 days, according to letters sent by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and first reported by WBUR.
Why it matters: USCIS has since said that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will now oversee the "medical deferred action" program — a change that had not been formally announced. An ICE official told the New York Times that the agency "had no idea" about the change, nor is it prepared to handle the new responsibility.
Former Vice President Joe Biden, currently leading in the polls for the 2020 Democratic nomination, got almost every detail incorrect in the retelling of his participation in a 2008 war story at a campaign stop, the Washington Post reports.
Why it matters: Biden has drawn criticism in recent months for public gaffes and slips, including mistakenly thinking he was vice president during the 2018 Parkland shooting and mistaking Margaret Thatcher for Theresa May.
Personal financial disclosures have become a litmus test for Democratic 2020 hopefuls, as candidates link their tax disclosures with the long-standing fight to obtain President Trump’s tax returns.
Our thought bubble, per Axios' Alexi McCammond: It will likely be politically toxic for any 2020 Democrat not to release their tax returns, since this is an example of how anything they demand of Trump they must do themselves. This is Democrats’ way of separating themselves from Trump, trying to get back to norms and pushing for transparency.
Joe Walsh, the former Tea Party congressman and 2020 Republican primary challenger to President Trump, said in an interview with BuzzFeed News that his past tweets calling former President Obama a Muslim are his biggest regrets on the platform.
Why it matters: While Walsh has apologized for some of his rhetoric, his inflammatory record is littered with controversy — including statements he has admitted were racist.
State and city election boards have spent the better part of 3 years hardening their systems for a 2020 hacker invasion. Yet all that work may not be enough to keep out ransomware.
Driving the news: On Monday, Reuters was first to report that the Department of Homeland Security would begin helping elections officials prepare for ransomware attacks.
President Trump's latest tweets have continued a pattern of attacking the Federal Reserve and his handpicked chairman Jerome Powell for months using a mix of half-truths, mischaracterizations and hyperbolic fantasies, such as a claim that the stock market would be 10,000 points higher if not for the Fed.
Driving the news: On Wednesday morning, Trump said on Twitter that the Fed "cannot 'mentally' keep up with the competition - other countries. At the G-7 in France, all of the other Leaders were giddy about how low their Interest Costs have gone. Germany is actually “getting paid” to borrow money - ZERO INTEREST PLUS! No Clue Fed!"
Democratic presidential candidate Rep. Tulsi Gabbard told Fox News' "'Tucker Carlson Tonight" Wednesday that the Democratic National Committee's process for determining who qualifies in debates "lacks transparency."
"People deserve having that transparency, because, ultimately, it's the people who will decide who our Democratic nominee will be and ultimately who our next president, commander-in-chief will be. And when you see that lack of transparency, it creates, you know, a lack of faith and trust in the process."
Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) tweeted on Wednesday that she needs security protection as she shared a death threat she received hours after Alabama Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore tweeted she should "go back to Somalia."
Why it matters: The Somalia-born U.S. citizen has said she experiences spikes in death threats when conservatives, including President Trump, target her in attacks. The writer of the latest death threat speaks of getting the "Somali stink" out of Minnesota as they threatened to shoot her at the state fair.
The House Judiciary Committee said on Wednesday it will investigate President Trump's proposal to host the 2020 G7 summit at his Miami golf resort, as part of ongoing Congressional impeachment investigations.
What's happening: The committee asserts that hosting some of the world's major economic powers at Trump National Doral would implicate the U.S. Constitution's foreign and domestic emoluments clauses, which could be grounds for impeachment. A hearing on the matter will take place in September.
2020 Democratic candidate Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand told the New York Times in an interview Wednesday that she is withdrawing from the presidential race.
The big picture: Gillibrand attempted to brand herself as the women's candidate — focusing her campaign on reproductive rights, child care and her #MeToo advocacy. But with a relatively high number of women running, she struggled to stand out, leading to poor showing in the polls and a failure to qualify for next month's debates.
Kids born outside the U.S. to American citizens who are military members or government officials will have a much harder time qualifying for citizenship, according to a new memo posted by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) on Wednesday.
The big picture: The new policy guidance alters the definition of "residing in the United States" to disqualify some children born to U.S. citizens at overseas military bases or diplomatic facilities from automatically receiving citizenship. It requires citizen parents to spend much more time in the U.S. than is currently required to establish residency — and thus pass on citizenship to their children.
President Trump is determined to speed up construction on the southern border wall to deliver on his 2016 campaign promise ahead of the 2020 election, reports the Washington Post.
The state of play: Trump has "directed aides to fast-track billions of dollars' worth of construction contracts, aggressively seize private land and disregard environmental rules," current and former administration officials told the Post. The president has previously promised to complete 500 miles of fence before the election, but the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has only completed 60 miles of "replacement" barrier so far.
Former Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis said he "did as well as [he] could for as long as [he] could" during his tenure in the Trump administration, according to a new book excerpt published Wednesday by the Wall Street Journal.
Why it matters: The foreign-policy-focused piece — released just days after President Trump's weekend at the G7 summit — represents Mattis' first at-length comments since he left the White House in February after stating that his views were "not aligned" with those of the president.
Democrats are increasingly taking far-left positions most would not have dreamed of — or dared — taking three short years ago.
Why it matters: A convergence of incentives — fundraising, cable coverage, liberal activism and social media — are inspiring Democrats to offer full-throated support of big government liberalism. The result would make Hillary Clinton and former President Obama sound like conservative Democrats in this field.
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden told reporters Tuesday that racism in the U.S. is "overwhelmingly a white man’s problem visited on people of color" as he criticized President Trump over the racial divide, USA Today reports.
What presidents say matter … They can make markets rise and fall. They can send people to war. They can, in fact, also appeal to the worst damn instincts of human nature."
— Biden's remarks to reporters, according to USA Today
