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Florida prosecutor sues DeSantis over ouster

Hillsborough County State Attorney Andrew Warren (D) on Wednesday sued Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), alleging the governor unconstitutionally suspended him for his views supporting gender-affirming surgery and abortion.

DeSantis suspended Warren earlier this month for “incompetence” and “neglect of duty,” citing statements the prosecutor signed indicating he would refuse to enforce “prohibitions on sex change operations for minors” and “any laws related to protecting the right to life.” 

In the suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida, Warren said his statements were protected speech under the First Amendment and alleged that DeSantis used his authority to “suppress criticism and promote cronyism.”

“There’s so much more at stake here than my job,” Warren said at a press conference on Wednesday. 

“Ron DeSantis is hoping to get away with overturning a fair election, throwing out the votes of hundreds of thousands of Floridians,” he continued. “By challenging this illegal abuse of power, we can make sure that no governor can toss out the results of an election because he doesn’t like the outcome.”

Warren also argued that although DeSantis is permitted to suspend state attorneys for neglect of duty under Florida’s state constitution, his rationale as to why Warren met that threshold was “facially insufficient” based on court precedent.

The suit states his elected position provides him absolute discretion in whether to prosecute a case, and he has never been referred a case to prosecute abortion-related crimes.

“DeSantis’s order does not identify any actual conduct by Warren related to his official duties involving alleged criminal activity for seeking gender-affirming healthcare or abortion,” the suit alleges.

The Hill has reached out to the governor’s office for comment.

“The governor’s action in clearly suspending Andrew from his elected office because of what he said, because of what he thinks, because of his longstanding, firmly held views on things like criminal justice reform and on other topics like abortion and the rights of transgender Americans — those are not bases on which the governor can suspend Mr. Warren from office,” J. Cabou, Warren’s attorney, said at the press conference. 

Earlier this year, DeSantis signed a state law banning abortions at 15 weeks of pregnancy, which imposes further restrictions than a previous law banning the procedure at 24 weeks. The law took effect on July 1 but has been subject to legal challenges from advocates for abortion rights.

A state appeals court has allowed the law to remain in place, but the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups last week asked the Florida Supreme Court to take up the case.

Source: TEST FEED1

CDC director: Agency must 'do better' after review of COVID-19 response

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Rochelle Walensky said Wednesday that the agency “did not reliably meet expectations” and must “do better” after an external review found shortcomings in the COVID-19 response.  

The review, begun in April, comes after the CDC faced heavy criticism for its stumbles both in the early days of the pandemic and more recently, with critics pointing to confusing guidance and slow responses.

Walensky effectively acknowledged that at least some of the criticism is valid, and the agency announced a series of steps on Wednesday seeking to modernize and improve its responses.  

The review, led by Jim Macrae, an official in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), included findings such as that the CDC should “share scientific findings and data faster,” according to a top-line summary released by the CDC, and “be transparent about the agency’s current level of understanding.”

The CDC said Wednesday that it is taking a number of steps to change its culture and prioritize direct public health impact over a more academic mindset.  

The agency said in a summary of potential changes that its “guidance documents are confusing and overwhelming; the website is not easy to navigate.” 

It said it is considering restructuring its website and producing “plain language” guidance.  

The agency also said it “takes too long for CDC to publish its data and science for decision making.” It is considering steps to expedite publication.  

“For 75 years, CDC and public health have been preparing for COVID-19, and in our big moment, our performance did not reliably meet expectations,” Walensky said in a statement.  “As a long-time admirer of this agency and a champion for public health, I want us all to do better, and it starts with CDC leading the way.” 

The CDC first faced heat for its COVID-19 response in the early days of the pandemic for problems plaguing testing that left the country unaware of the full extent of the virus’s spread. 

But even more recently under President Biden, the agency has faced criticism for shifting or confusing guidance in areas ranging from masking to isolation. At the end of last year, for example, the CDC faced questions when it did not include a requirement to test negative before leaving isolation after it cut the isolation time for many people infected with the virus from 10 days to five days.

While the new review focused on the response to COVID-19, the CDC has also faced criticism for its response to monkeypox, which some experts say shows the public health system has not learned lessons from COVID-19.  

Former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb wrote in The New York Times that the CDC had once again failed to expand testing fast enough in the early days of monkeypox.  

“Our country’s response to monkeypox ‌‌has been plagued by the same shortcomings we had with Covid-19,” he wrote. “Now if monkeypox ‌gains a permanent foothold in the United States and becomes an endemic virus that joins our circulating repertoire of pathogens, it will be one of the worst public health failures in modern times not only because of the pain and peril of the disease but also because it was so avoidable.” 

The steps the CDC announced on Wednesday also include appointing former Deputy HHS Secretary Mary Wakefield to help respond to the recommendations and creating a new executive council to implement changes.

“My goal is a new, public health action-oriented culture at CDC that emphasizes accountability, collaboration, communication, and timeliness,” Walensky said. 

Source: TEST FEED1

The unintended consequences of the Inflation Reduction Act

On Tuesday, President Biden signed into law the Inflation Reduction Act, marking one of his signature legislative victories and an important step in addressing climate change and American competitiveness in green-tech manufacturing. The day before his signing ceremony, I was in New Hampshire briefing elected officials about the possible implications of this and other rapidly enacted climate polices by both government and industry.

While I am a strong advocate for developing a new generation of sustainable technologies, organizational strategies and policies to achieve a net-zero carbon economy, I am concerned that the pace at which we are advancing policies to address climate change is not being matched by an effort to provide policy makers a better understanding of the hidden and unintended economic, social and environmental implications.

One such example is the transition taking place to rapidly move away from internal combustion gasoline and diesel vehicles to electric vehicles. This is being driven in part by states, led by California, adopting zero-emission vehicle standards for new car sales, as well as global automotive manufacturers such as GM transitioning toward electric vehicles exclusively by 2035.

While this transition will provide strong benefits, including domestic manufacturing and job creation, we must also understand the other side of the ledger: As the adoption rate of electric vehicles increases, so too do the potential losses in local and state revenues.

The most obvious impact will arise from a precipitous drop over time in gasoline purchased at our local gas stations. The national average of the combined federal and state gas tax is roughly 57 cents per gallon, the bulk of which is imposed by states and supports the maintenance of our roads and highways. The revenue also funds environmental protection programs relating to the storage of fuel in underground storage tanks which number over half a million.

Beyond the direct loss in fuel tax, states and local communities rely on the sales tax that comes with customers running inside gas stations’ convenience stores for drinks, food and, of increasing importance, lottery tickets. In some states, a portion of the lottery revenue goes into the general fund of the state. In the president’s home state of Delaware, for instance, the lottery was the state’s fifth largest revenue generator in 2021. The vast network of gas and convenience stations around our nation also provide property tax revenues, which will be impacted as many of these facilities may go away in the future.

Further, electric vehicles require less maintenance than their conventional gas-powered vehicles, further reducing state sales tax revenues from auto repair and service shops. Training programs will be needed for a changing work force, as the skills required to maintain electronic cars with advanced software is far different than existing gas-powered cars. States and local communities will face revenue complexities as dealerships are increasingly challenged by online direct sales of vehicles.

And even as revenues decline, our states and local communities will have to rapidly develop the required charging infrastructure to ensure dependability and access to all parts of communities, including those that are economically depressed. Some of the charging stations will be deployed by the private sector or through public-private partnerships, but much of the necessary supporting infrastructure will fall on local and state governments. And what happens to all of the underground storage tanks that require on-going monitoring if retail gas stations go out of business and the funds generated from fuel taxes to protect the environment erode?

There are also no well-developed technologies or plans to manage the large volume of lithium batteries that will eventually have an end-of-life without some form of innovation to recycle the batteries. Further, the heavier weight of electronic vehicles may require more expensive maintenance of our roads. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is a good first step to address some of these near-term financial needs, but more thought and action is required to quantify and mitigate the more expansive economic and job impacts from the transition to electric vehicles. States will need to not only develop alternative tax structures based on annual mileage to replace the fuel tax, they will also need to get a handle on the additional revenue losses and increased costs from the broader impacts of the transition.

The electric vehicle transition is one example — so too will there be implications to our states and local communities for other fast-moving programs to address climate change, such as the rapid expansion to 30 gigawatt of off-shore wind. Special focus needs to be given to American farmers, as they will need income alternatives with the reduced demand of ethanol and biodiesel. Sustainable aviation fuel will not be enough.

We need Congress to support rural America and further advance efforts in the development and production of biobased chemicals, bioenergy and biobased products, as well as programs to financially incentivize precision agriculture and on-farm carbon credits that can be sold by farmers to companies and financial institutions focused on meeting their public carbon reduction commitments. We only add to the growing rural-urban divide by providing tax incentives for electric vehicles primarily used in short-distance driving in cities while adversely impacting our rural corn and soy farmers who will lose out with reduced demand of gasoline additives or replacements such as ethanol and biodiesel.

The recent policies and legislation are necessary and needed. But what also is needed is for the White House to invest in bringing together leaders from industry, agriculture, federal, state and local government as well as subject matter experts to immediately identify and tackle these unintended issues, and to direct the appropriate government agencies to fund the research necessary to support public and private decision-makers as we move forward with our net-zero carbon transition.

Jay Golden, P.h.D., is the Pontarelli professor of environmental sustainability and finance in the Maxwell School at Syracuse University and directs its Dynamic Sustainability Lab. He advises and consults for corporations, NGOs and governments around the world on the nexus of sustainability, innovation and policy, and is the author of the forthcoming book “Dynamic Sustainability,” published by Cambridge University Press. He can be reached at JGolde04@syr.edu.

Source: TEST FEED1

Restrictive curriculum bills nearly tripled in 2022, report finds

State legislative proposals to restrict how topics including race, gender identity and sexual orientation are addressed in schools have skyrocketed over the last year, nearly tripling from 2021, according to a report published Wednesday by the group PEN America.

Between January and August, 36 states introduced 137 pieces of legislation that would limit the ability of educators to teach their students. In 2021, 54 bills were introduced in 22 states, according to PEN America, a free expression and literary organization.

Similar to both 2020 and 2021, most measures introduced this year target lessons about race, but a growing number – 23 this year, according to PEN America – single out classroom instruction related to LGBTQ+ issues or identities.

That includes a new Florida education law that heavily curtails the ability of public school teachers to address topics including sexual orientation and gender identity with their students, as well as another measure with substantially similar language that was signed into law in Alabama in April.

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Similar education bills targeting LGBTQ+ identities were introduced this year in states including Ohio, Georgia, Iowa, Indiana and Kentucky, among others, but failed to become law.

Legislation targeting classroom instruction this year mostly focused on K-12 schools, but an increasing share would apply the law to colleges and universities. 

Restrictive curriculum bills introduced this year have also tended to be more punitive compared to those of previous years, according to the PEN America report, and more than half of bills introduced in 2022 contained explicit punishments for violations, including private rights of action, large monetary fines, faculty termination and loss of institutional accreditation.

Lawmakers who support such measures have argued that their primary intent is to give parents a larger role in their children’s education, in some cases alleging that public school classrooms are inappropriate forums for discussions about sexual orientation and gender identity because those topics may be in conflict with the religious beliefs of some families.

Those opposed to the bills have accused the mostly Republican state legislators backing them of capitalizing on the issue, which has ignited a fierce nationwide debate over “parental rights” in schools, for political gain. Of the 137 restrictive curriculum bills introduced this year, just one – in Arizona –  had a Democratic legislative sponsor, according to PEN America.

Suzanne Nossel, the group’s chief executive, on Wednesday said legislation that limits meaningful discourse in schools poses a threat to how young people are able to navigate the nuances of reality later on in life.

“Lawmakers are undermining the role of our public schools as a unifying force above politics and turning them instead into a culture war battleground,” Nossel said in a news release. “By seeking to silence critical perspectives and stifle debate, they are depriving students of the tools they need to navigate a diverse and complex world.”

Reports of self-censorship in schools or stunted intellectual exchanges as a result of restrictive curriculum bills have already surfaced. In Iowa, a group of high school students in April staged a walkout to protest a number of such measures, including one that prohibits “divisive concepts” being taught in school.

Recent research from the RAND Corporation found that a quarter of teachers nationwide have been directed by school administrators “to limit discussions about political and social issues in class.”

Restrictive curriculum bills introduced over the last two years have become law in 15 states, affecting an estimated 122 million Americans. PEN America on Wednesday said the group expects more to be filed in the coming year, especially where similar measures have failed only narrowly.

Source: TEST FEED1

Best Buy to sell over-the-counter hearing aids following new federal rule

Best Buy announced Wednesday it will begin selling an expanded collection of hearing devices this fall following a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ruling allowing hearing aids to be sold over the counter. 

“Our expansion of the hearing collection and new store experience will let customers easily find a hearing loss solution from brands they trust,” Frank Bedo, category officer at Best Buy, said in a statement.  

“Our customers come to us for quality tech products and expertise, and this fall we’ll be able to better help them find the right solutions specific to their needs,” Bedo added.  

The company said its expanded suite of devices will include the “new FDA-regulated category of over-the-counter hearing devices to help perceived mild or moderate hearing loss,” with an instore experience at 300 stores. 

Customers will also have access to a new online tool that will help identify their level of hearing loss and specific product needs.  

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The Food and Drug Administration’s new rule permits over-the-counter purchase of hearing aids without a prescription or medical exam by adults 18 and older – a move the Biden administration said would lower costs and increase competition.  

 “This action makes good on my commitment to lower costs for American families, delivering nearly $3,000 in savings to American families for a pair of hearing aids and giving people more choices to improve their health and wellbeing,” President Biden said.

“It’s the latest action we are taking to make our economy more competitive and less concentrated,” Biden added. “When too few companies dominate, American consumers pay higher costs.” 

The agency said close to 30 million Americans could benefit from hearing aids.  

Source: TEST FEED1

High prevalence of methamphetamine use seen in rural populations

As the United States gears up for what is expected to be an even worse wave of opioid overdoses, new research published in JAMA Network Open shows nearly four in five drug users in rural America report using methamphetamine, a substance often overlooked in the epidemic. 

Individuals can take methamphetamine, a synthetic stimulant, alone, in conjunction with opioids or laced with fentanyl.

To better understand how frequently methamphetamine and opioids are associated with non-fatal overdoses in rural communities, researchers surveyed more than 3,000 individuals in rural counties with high overdose rates across Illinois, Kentucky, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Vermont, West Virginia and Wisconsin. 

Seventy-nine percent of those who used drugs in the past 30 days reported using methamphetamine, while non-fatal overdoses were most common among those using both methamphetamine and opioids (22 percent). In comparison, those using opioids alone had a 14 percent non-fatal overdose rate, while methamphetamine use alone saw a 6 percent rate.

Prevalence of methamphetamine use was highest in Oregon, where more than 95 percent of drug users reported use within the past month. 

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Just 17 percent of individuals who used methamphetamine alone reported having naloxone, an overdose reversal drug, and those using both substances said they had the least access to treatment.

Data were collected between January 2018 and March 2020. The majority (85 percent) of individuals were white and 57 percent were male, with a mean age of 36. 

These trends align with those suffering “Deaths of Despair,” or deaths resulting from drug overdoses, suicide and alcoholic liver disease, that disproportionately affect white men in the United States and are driven in large part by economic misery. 

However, “participants with concomitant opioid and methamphetamine use were younger and more commonly reported American Indian or Alaskan Native race,” authors wrote, underscoring the importance of culturally tailored interventions for these vulnerable populations.

Combined use was also more common among individuals who reported recent homelessness. 

Between April 2020 and March 2021, 100,306 individuals died from overdoses in the U.S., the largest number ever reported in a 12-month period, researchers wrote.

“Methamphetamine use has been endemic in the western US for decades, particularly in rural communities where use is more prevalent than in metropolitan areas,” they added. “Recent data suggest that methamphetamine use has spread to other regions of the US where it is associated with unstable housing, low income, and rural residence.” 

Individuals in rural areas also tend to have limited access to opioid use disorder medications and mental health care services.

“As fentanyl continues to replace heroin and adulterate the methamphetamine supply, early response systems to track nonfatal overdoses and implement rapid prevention interventions are urgently needed to decrease overdose deaths,” researchers stressed. 

Increased distribution of naloxone and fentanyl test strips could help reduce harms in this population as currently, over half of U.S. counties do note have a prescriber for naloxone “leaving 30 million people in those counties without access to treatment.” 

Source: TEST FEED1

Yellen eyes $80B boost as 'monumental opportunity' to 'transform' IRS

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is preparing the IRS for an overhaul of the U.S. tax collection system made possible by an $80 billion funding boost for the agency included in the Democrats’ Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).

In a Wednesday memo from Yellen to IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig obtained by The Hill, Yellen said she’s giving the IRS six months to deliver an in-depth operational plan to figure out exactly how that $80 billion should be spent.

“This operational plan should include details on how resources will be spent over the ten-year horizon on technology, service improvement, and personnel. This operational plan is key to ensuring the public and Congress are able to hold the agency accountable as it pursues needed improvements,” Yellen’s memo said. “It must include metrics for areas of focus and targets over the course of the coming years that the agency will strive to achieve.”

“Ahead of us is a monumental opportunity to transform tax administration in this country,” Yellen wrote. “It is also a significant operational challenge. The work will require an all-hands-on-deck approach from the dedicated employees of the IRS.”

Many Democrats have long viewed the IRS as chronically underfunded, but the $80 billion allocated to the agency has Republicans fuming. GOP lawmakers argue that the funding will be used to hire tens of thousands more IRS agents and will result in increased tax audits on those making $400,000 or less.

However, Yellen has previously stated that the money should not be used to conduct additional tax audits on Americans below this threshold.

In the memo, Yellen stressed again that “these investments will not result in households earning $400,000 per year or less or small businesses seeing an increase in the chances that they are audited relative to historical levels.”

Still, Republicans pointed to a May 2021 Treasury report that found that a funding boost comparable to the one in the IRA could allow the Treasury to hire 86,852 new full-time employees, and have claimed that audits would increase on the middle class.

Former Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) even depicted them as armed and dangerous.

“Are they going to have a strike force that goes in with AK-15s already loaded, ready to shoot some small business person in Iowa with these, because I think they’re going after middle class and small business people,” Grassley said last week on the “Fox and Friends” television program.

Current Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden suggested that such depictions counted as “incendiary conspiracy theories.”

“It’s unbelievable that we even need to say this, but there are not going to be 87,000 armed IRS agents going door-to-door with assault weapons,” he said in a statement to The Hill.

In interviews with The Hill, law enforcement agents from the IRS criminal investigation division also pushed back against this characterization of the IRS’s work, saying that “the bulk of IRS’s tax administration work is done by civilian auditors and revenue collectors.”

However many new civilian auditors are going to be hired, the IRS is anticipating a wave of upcoming retirements at the agency. In her memo Yellen said it was a priority “to replace the attrition that is on the horizon from the expected retirement of at least 50,000 IRS employees over the next five years.”

The IRA breaks down the $80 billion in funding, which will be allotted over the next decade, into big chunks, which Yellen’s Wednesday directive to Commissioner Rettig will further refine.

Of that $80 billion, $45 billion is going specifically to enforcement activities, so the line items in the IRS operational plan for that category, such as additional equipment and personnel, will most likely be of special interest to lawmakers.

Other spending categories to be further broken down in the next six months include $3 billion for taxpayer services, $25 billion for operational support and nearly $5 billion for new technology.

Yellen’s memo also addresses the backlog of millions of outstanding tax returns that piled up during the pandemic as IRS facilities were shut down and agents were forced to work remotely.

She said it was a priority of the agency “to fully resolve the inventory backlog and make significant improvements in taxpayer services,” adding that she was “prepared to approve the near-term use of funds to improve services for next filing season.”

“I would like the IRS to work closely with the Deputy Secretary to identify specific operational initiatives and associated timelines that will improve taxpayer service, modernize technology, and increase equity in our system of tax administration by pursuing tax evasion by those at the top who today do not pay their tax bill,” Yellen wrote.

Source: TEST FEED1

New Kushner book panned in New York Times review

Jared Kushner, former President Trump’s son-in-law and a former senior White House adviser, received a scathing review for his forthcoming memoir on Wednesday from The New York Times. 

Critic Dwight Garner said in his review that Kushner’s memoir, “Breaking History,” is a “peculiarly selective” examination of the Trump administration, ignoring “the chaos, the alienation of allies, the breaking of laws and norms, the flirtations with dictators, the comprehensive loss of America’s moral leadership, and so on.”

Garner said the book repeatedly uses political cliches like “Even in a starkly divided country, there are always opportunities to build bridges,” and has the tone of a college admissions essay. 

He said a typical sentence is “In an environment of maximum pressure, I learned to ignore the noise and distractions and instead to push for results that would improve lives.” 

Garner said Kushner consistently refers to praise he has received, such as that he is a strong lobbyist and played a role in developing the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, a free trade agreement that went into effect in 2020. 

Though Kushner “read Sun Tzu and imagined he was becoming a warrior,” Garner writes, he said Kushner’s closeness to Trump was the reason he prevailed in influencing his father-in-law over other White House staff members, like former adviser Steve Bannon and former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. 

Garner said the book mostly focuses on the issues that Kushner cares most about, including prison reform, the COVID-19 pandemic and the Middle East. Kushner was directly involved in negotiating the Abraham Accords, which saw the normalization of relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. 

Garner said Kushner concludes with suggesting he was mostly unaware of the events of the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection until late in the day and that Kushner largely avoids addressing false claims from Trump and his allies that voter fraud cost the former president the 2020 presidential election. 

“He seems to have no beliefs beyond carefully managed appearances and the art of the deal,” Garner said of Kushner’s memoir. “He wants to stay on top of things, this manager, but doesn’t want to get to the bottom of anything.” 

Garner said he is unsure who the main target demographic is for the book because it does not have enough “red meat” to appeal to Trump’s most ardent supporters, and that Kushner did not appeal to them anyway. Garner said “political wonks” may be interested, but the material is more thoroughly covered elsewhere. 

The book will go on sale next week. 

Kushner could not be reached for comment.

Source: TEST FEED1

Afghans who helped us deserve better immigration treatment

As the Afghan government and military fell to the Taliban after U.S. troops were withdrawn from Afghanistan, the U.S. hastily evacuated American citizens and 76,000 Afghans who had helped the U.S. in its 20-year war against the Taliban.

It is a year later now, and most of the Afghan evacuees still have temporary immigration status, which means that they may be subject to removal when their status expires. This isn’t right. We should be taking better care of them.  

It is more than just an obligation to people who put themselves in peril to help the United States. 

According to Margaret D. Stock, a retired military officer, “Correcting for this inaction is a matter of national security — in future conflicts, why would anyone risk their lives by serving alongside our soldiers or providing critical translation services if the U.S. can’t keep our promises to them when we depart?” 

It wouldn’t be taking this long to meet the needs of the Afghans if our immigration system weren’t overwhelmed to the point of being dysfunctional.

Parole

The evacuees who did not have entry documents had to request humanitarian parole, which permits undocumented migrants to be admitted to the United States temporarily for urgent humanitarian or significant public benefit reasons. 

Approximately 70,192 of them were paroled into the United States between July 30, 2021, and Nov. 15, 2021.   

Permanent status

Congress has enacted a series of legislative provisions which enable certain Afghan nationals to become lawful permanent residents (LPRs) on the basis of a Special Immigrant Visa (SIV).

Section 1059 of the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2006, authorizes giving SIVs to Afghans who worked with the U.S. Armed Forces or under Chief of Mission (COM) authority as a translator or an interpreter for at least a year. 

To be eligible for this special immigrant classification, the principal applicant must obtain a favorable written recommendation from the COM or a general or flag officer in the relevant Armed Forces unit.

Afghans who were employed by or on behalf of the U.S. government or the International security Assistance Force in Afghanistan may be eligible for SIV status under section 602(b) of the Afghan Allies Protection Act of 2009.

Roadblock

As of July 18, 2022, there were 74,274 principal applicants in the SIV pipeline. This number does not include spouses and children. And the applications have to be processed by USCIS, which is experiencing a backlog crisis. 

The 2022 Annual Report to Congress from the Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman observes that USCIS frequently has had to deal with large backlogs, but they have never been as severe as the one the agency currently faces.

USCIS has a backlog of around 5.3 million immigration benefit applications, with an additional 8.3 million pending requests that are not in the backlog yet because they aren’t ready yet for adjudication. This means that USCIS has 13.6 million benefit requests to process — in addition to the new applications it is receiving.

The evacuees could apply for asylum while they are waiting for their SIV applications to be processed, but their asylum applications also would have to be adjudicated by USCIS. And USCIS is not keeping up with these cases either. It has an asylum backlog of more than 430,000 pending cases.

Concerns that need to be addressed

Prior to being admitted to the United States, the Afghans were put through a multi-layered screening and vetting process that includes biometric and biographic identifiers, which is conducted by intelligence, law enforcement, and counterterrorism agencies.

The value of this process depends on whether the agencies have previously encountered the Afghans being screened. Without such prior contact, searching agency records will not produce any information about the evacuees.

Better security screening methods are badly needed.

Apparently, this time, however, adverse information was found.    

The Department of Defense (DOD) assisted in screening the Afghan evacuees while they were at staging locations outside of the United States, and a Pentagon whistleblower reportedly claims that 324 of the Afghans were on DOD’s watchlist of suspected and known terrorists.

He also reportedly claims that the White House and DOD officials directed agency personnel to cut corners and not conduct full fingerprint tests. 

Afghan Adjustment Act

On Aug. 7, 2022, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) introduced the bicameral Afghan Adjustment Act, S.4787, which she says would allow Afghans with temporary immigration status to apply for LPR status after undergoing additional vetting.

It has to pass first, which seems extremely unlikely to me.

The Afghan Adjustment Act would establish a streamlined adjustment process to make it easier for eligible Afghan nationals who supported the United States mission in Afghanistan to become LPRs.

This would require processing the Afghans applications ahead of the applications of people who have been waiting a very long time for their own immigration benefit applications to be processed.

The bill would make LPR status available to previously omitted groups and their family members, including members of the Afghanistan National Army Special Operations Command, the Afghan Air Force, the Special Mission Wing of Afghanistan, and the Female Tactical Teams of Afghanistan.

This could greatly increase the size of this legalization program.

The bill also would require DHS to establish screening requirements that are equivalent to those used in the United States Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP), including an interview. USRAP screening includes biometric and biographic checks at multiple stages throughout the process.

Unfortunately, refugee screening also depends on whether the agencies involved have information on the migrant being screened.

The elephant in the room

The needs of the evacuees are important, and I am confident they will be taken care of eventually. Their plight highlights a much bigger problem that is largely being ignored.

USCIS isn’t the only agency facing a backlog crisis. As of the end of July, the immigration court had a backlog of more than 1.8 million cases, with an average wait time for a hearing before an immigration judge of 818 days.

How much worse do things have to get before the administration and congress realize how serious this situation is?

Nolan Rappaport was detailed to the House Judiciary Committee as an Executive Branch Immigration Law Expert for three years. He subsequently served as an immigration counsel for the Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security and Claims for four years. Prior to working on the Judiciary Committee, he wrote decisions for the Board of Immigration Appeals for 20 years. Follow him at https://www.blogger.com/blog/posts/2306123393080132994

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Pence condemns attacks on FBI after Mar-a-Lago search

Former Vice President Mike Pence on Wednesday criticized the members of his own party who have attacked the FBI in recent days over the search of former President Trump’s estate in Florida.

“I also want to remind my fellow Republicans we can hold the attorney general accountable for the decision that he made without attacking the rank and file law enforcement personnel at the FBI,” Pence said to applause at an event at Saint Anselm College in New Hampshire.

“The Republican Party is the party of law and order. Our party stands with the men and women who serve on the thin blue line at the federal, state and local level. And these attacks on the FBI must stop,” Pence continued.

“Calls to defund the FBI are just as wrong as calls to defund the police. And the truth of the matter is, we need to get to the bottom of what happened. We need to let the facts play out,” Pence added. “But more than anything else, the American people need to be reassured in the integrity of our justice system ,and the very appearance of a recurrence of politics playing a role in decisions at the Justice Department demand transparency as never before.”

Pence said he would call on Attorney General Merrick Garland to release a full accounting of the reasons behind the FBI search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property last week, during which federal agents recovered several boxes of classified and top secret materials the former president had taken from the White House.

“This unprecedented action does demand unprecedented transparency,” Pence said.

Trump himself has repeatedly attacked the FBI in the week since the search, accusing the agents without proof of planting evidence. Some Republicans, such as Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.), have called to defund or dismantle the FBI entirely.

Other Republicans have directed their fury at Garland and FBI Director Chris Wray, with some lawmakers pledging an investigation or to impeach the officials if Republicans gain power after the midterms.

An armed man attempted to breach an FBI building in Cincinnati on Thursday. Republicans condemned the attack and threats against law enforcement officers.

Pence, who is widely seen as laying the groundwork for a 2024 presidential bid, has been willing to call out members of his own party on certain issues in the past. He previously chided Republicans who praised Russian President Vladimir Putin in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine.

Source: TEST FEED1