JOBS POLICIES, ANALYSIS, AND RESOURCES
Latest Jobs Posts
It’s Frustrating to Negotiate with Republicans
Brief # 118 – Economic Policy
By Rosalind Gottfried
In March Biden proposed a 2.3 trillion dollar infrastructure plan which he has trimmed to 1.7 trillion. The Republicans initially proffered a plan of 568 billion and have raised it to 928 billion, after sustained discussion with Republican Negotiator Senator Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia.
Biden, after much negotiation with Republican leaders has rejected that offer saying that it fails to address significant needs in the transportation, climate control, and job creation.
Biden’s Global Vaccine Distribution Plan: More Than Just a Show
Brief # 107 – Health and Gender Policy
By Justin Lee
On June 3rd 2021, President Biden announced a plan to distribute over 25 million COVID vaccines globally; a new and separate initiative to the already $4 billion US has committed to COVAX. Under this agreement, 19 million doses will be dedicated to COVAX, which will distribute 6 million doses to Latin America and the Caribbean, 7 million doses for south and southeast Asia, and 5 million doses for Africa. The remaining 6 million doses will be shared with countries experiencing surges and US partners and neighbors.
Anti-Abortion Laws to Face the Supreme Court
Brief #108 – Health and Gender Policy
By Erin McNemar
While abortion has long been a controversial topic in American politics, there has been a recent increase in policies attempting to restrict a women’s right to chose. Last month, legislators in Texas worked to pass laws shortening the amount of time women have to make a decision regarding terminating their pregnancy.
The Texas law comes on the heels of the Supreme Court’s decision to review the Mississippi Abortion law beginning next session. This will be the first time the majority conservative leaning court will hear cases that will directly impact Roe v. Wade.
Biden Administration Announces Intent to Expand US Immigration System
Brief # 124 – Immigration Policy
By Kathryn Baron
Recently, the Biden Administration announced its intent to expand the existing American immigration system. The administration’s goal is to reverse anti-immigration efforts from the Trump Administration that led to lower levels of foreign workers, families and refugees, and numerous procedural hurdles.
Democracy Now | The Lethal Nexus: Mass Shootings and Domestic Violence
Democracy Now! U.S. RESIST NEWS OP ED
By Amy Goodman and Denis Moynihan
You know the United States is emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic when the pace of mass shootings gets back to “normal.” As of June 2nd, there were 244 mass shootings in the U.S. this year. That’s one to two per day.
The place and time of the next of these horrific acts is unknown, but that one will happen is a certainty. Then another, and another. One consequence of the number of mass shootings in the U.S. is that we possess data related to the crimes, which show a correlation between mass shooters and domestic violence. A majority of the men who commit mass shootings (and men commit at least 97% of them) also have a history of domestic violence.
That knowledge, along with sensible, fully-enforced gun control measures, could help stem the epidemic of mass shootings that blights our society, and save the lives of women threatened by intimate partner violence.
One Hundred Years After the Destruction of Black Wall Street, the Community Still Suffers Economic Violence
Brief #16—The Environment
By Rosalind Gottfried
On this Memorial Day it is time to remember the post-Civil War achievements of Black communities and the violence suffered to halt their progress.
One hundred years ago today, the thriving Tulsa community known as Greenwood was incinerated by two days of riots, replete with arson firebombs, and dynamite dropped from airplanes above. The entire Black community was ravaged, leaving 300 dead, thousand homeless, and businesses permanently lost.
Thirty five city blocks were razed in the riot and the ultimate cost to the community can never accurately be assessed.
Aid to Black Farmers Sparks Backlash
Brief #117—The Environment
By Katherine Cart
Intentional social inclusivity is, once again, generating backlash and the vexed use of the word “all” is causing reaction to a highlighting and attempted remediation of historical discrimination. The March 2021 American Rescue Plan (ARPA) released by the Biden Administration included a $5 billion dollar package designated for the support of “socially disadvantaged farmers.” In the bill’s language these include Black, hispanic, indiginous and other nonwhite farmers.
Criminal Charges Levied Against the Former President
Brief #20 — Elections and Politics
By Zack Huffman
For four years, President Donald Trump was able to use his position as Commander in Chief to shield himself from legal action for alleged crimes committed both during and before his time in office. Four months out from President Joe Biden’s inauguration, Trump is starting to feel the burn of no longer having the presidential shield to protect him.
Republicans Introducing State Bills, Restricting the Citizen Ballot Initiative and Popular Referendum Process
Brief #163—Civil Rights
By Rodney A. Maggay
During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries the Populist and Labor Movements in the United States helped usher in reforms, such as referendums and initiatives, that paved the way for direct democracy mechanisms to be implemented in a number of states.
Biden’s Economic Executive Orders
Economic Policy Brief #107
Biden’s Economic Executive Orders
Rosalind Gottfried
February 1, 2021
Policy
In addition to his $1.9 trillion stimulus plan, now being debated in Congress, President Biden has signed a number of Executive Orders affecting the well-being of struggling Americans.
These included a request that the Department of Education further suspend student loan payments to alleviate the burden on debt carrying graduates. He also requested the suspension of evictions and foreclosures on 44 million rental units across the country.
. A group of Covid-19 related Executive Orders included creating a Covid-19 response coordinator position; invoking the Defense Production Act to fill supply shortfalls; providing for FEMA reimbursement for National Guard costs; establishing a pandemic testing board and expanding testing; bolstering access to treatment and care for the virus; improve collection and analysis of pandemic related data; mounting a more effective vaccinating campaign; providing guidance for the safe re-opening of schools; establishing an OSHA guide for worker safety; establishing a covid-19 Health Equity Task Force; and tightening Buy American rules for government COVID-related procurements. Addition Executive Orders called for an end to the Justice department’s utilization of private prisons and restored the collective bargaining rights of federal workers.
Analysis
Biden has made use of Executive Orders to pass what can be done through this mechanism. However Executive Orders do not allow for the funding of new programs; that is the responsibility of Congress to approve. So the President is now pushing for a $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief program and Senate Majority leader Chuck Schumer has pledged to start the process of Budget Reconciliation that would allow for the Bill to pass with a split 50-50 vote with Vice President Kamala Harris breaking the tie and casting the deciding vote.. House leadership is also moving to pass the Bill through a budget reconciliation process.
Learn More References
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/27/covid-stimulus-update-democrats-prepare-budget-reconciliation.html
President Biden’s Executive Orders Greatly Strengthen US Commitment to Fight Climate Change
Brief # 107 Environmental Policy
President Biden’s Executive Orders Greatly Strengthen US Commitment to Fight Climate Change
By Jacob Morton
Feb 3, 2021
Review
On Wednesday, January 27, President Joe Biden signed a flurry of executive actions to address the climate crisis by reviving environmental protections dismantled by the previous administration and promoting the creation of new ‘green’ jobs. The orders revive many Obama-era protections and regulations, including a rejection of the Keystone XL Pipeline and the protection of sacred indigenous sites in Utah. Biden’s executive actions go even further still, mandating that climate change be considered in all major decisions of the Federal government, and re-establishing a culture of scientific integrity and evidence-based decision making across all Federal agencies. The President’s executive orders also call for the Federal government to play a larger role in ensuring economic success for communities and individuals affected by an energy industry shift from fossil fuels to renewables.
The list of President Biden’s environmental executive actions include:
- A commitment to using the federal government’s purchasing power to order a large fleet of zero-emissions vehicles. According to President Biden, “This will mean one million new jobs in the American automobile industry.”
- A pledge to reserve 30 percent of federal land and water for conservation purposes, as well as the creation of a civilian “climate corps” to employ people in conservation work.
- An order to pause all new oil and gas leases on federal lands and in federal waters — though this does not put a stop to drilling all together, the order directs the Interior Department, “to the extent consistent with applicable law,” to “pause” all pending leases while the new administration organizes a review of the effects on climate change associated with drilling on federal land and waters. This action does not address pending permits, only leases. According to reporting from the New York Times, “As of 2019, more than 26 million acres of federal land had been leased to oil and gas companies.” The order further calls for increasing renewable energy production on Federal lands and waters, “with the goal of doubling offshore wind by 2030.”
- A vow to review more than 100 environmental rules and regulations that were weakened or reversed by the Trump administration and to restore Obama-era protections to two Indigenous sacred sites, Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante, which are also national monuments in Utah.
- A “temporary moratorium” on all oil and gas leases in the Arctic national wildlife refuge.
- An order to rescind the permits for the Keystone XL Pipeline and restore the Obama-era rejection of the project that was reversed by the Trump administration.
- A mandate (the first of its kind from any president) that climate change be taken into consideration in all major foreign policy and national security decisions.
- A commitment to build out a network of electric-car charging stations nationwide by manufacturing and installing a half-million new electric-vehicle charging stations.
- A commitment to build 1.5 million new energy-efficient homes.
- A commitment to seal off one million abandoned and leaking oil and gas wells.
- An order to create a task force aimed at economically reviving communities dependent on the fossil fuel industry — an acknowledgement that the government should play a larger role in helping displaced fossil fuel workers find jobs in the clean energy sector.
- A formal appointment of the former Secretary of State, John Kerry, to play the role of President Biden’s international climate envoy, with a seat on the National Security Council.
- An announcement that the United States will host a Climate Leaders Summit of major emitting nations and others on Earth Day, April 22. Kerry says that by then, he will announce a new set of specific targets to which the United States aims to lower its carbon dioxide emissions in its commitment to rejoining the Paris Climate Agreement, abandoned by the previous administration.
- A call for the federal government’s 17 intelligence agencies “to create a first-ever National Intelligence Estimate of the national security risks posed by climate change.”
- A directive to agencies to look for ways to “increase and improve the climate-forecast information available to help governments and others prepare for the consequences of climate change.”
- An expectation of every federal agency to create plans to prepare their facilities for protection against climate-change effects, such as rising sea levels, storms, and droughts. Many agency headquarters in Washington, including the Justice Department, the Internal Revenue Service, and the Environmental Protection Agency, lie within the 100-year floodplain (a designation of areas likely to see at least one severe flooding event every 100 years).
- A presidential memorandum instructing all agencies to make what the new administration calls “evidence-based decisions guided by the best available science and data.” As a requirement, every agency, not just those that do scientific research, must appoint “scientific integrity” officials to ensure an adherence to science-based policy.
Analysis
While environmentalists and conservation groups praise Biden’s executive actions, many Republicans and fossil fuel industry leaders argue that they are unfair and will cause more harm than good. Senator John Cornyn of Texas said in a statement, “I’m all for transitioning to cleaner forms of energy, but … How are families going to get to work, take their kids to school, or live their life if all of a sudden the very natural resource that they depend on for their cars is no longer available?” Meanwhile, former Republican governor of New Jersey, Christine Todd Whitman, praised the president’s actions, saying, “This is the way the world is going,” noting that “In 2019, about 40 percent of the United States workforce was in clean energy.” Even General Motors has gotten on board, announcing it will halt production of gasoline and diesel light-duty cars and SUVs, transitioning to all electric by 2035.
To many economists the actions represent a mixed bag. While President Biden argues these actions will create “one million new jobs in the American automobile industry,” economist at Syracuse University, David Popp, says, “[Biden’s] basically saying he’s going to double auto manufacturing. I find that hard to believe. … You can’t do that with auto emissions regulations. You can’t do that with government procurement.” However, Popp, along with other economists, admit that studies generally show that the number of clean energy and environmental mitigation jobs created by new environmental regulations, typically equals the number of jobs lost in the fossil fuels industry.
Popp even goes so far as to praise Biden for acknowledging the need to create a task force within the Federal government focused primarily on economically reviving communities dependent on the fossil fuel industry and finding clean energy jobs for displaced fossil fuel workers. Popp says, “The skills in these clean energy jobs — installing and manufacturing solar panels and wind turbines — are actually a decent match” with workers coming from mining, offshore drilling, and other fields. “What’s really important is how well you can match the job losses to gains.” The President’s executive order also calls for the creation of a “civilian climate corps to employ people in conservation work.” Gina McCarthy, Mr. Biden’s top adviser on domestic climate policy, made sure to emphasize in a press conference that, “We’re not going to ask people to go from the middle of Ohio and Pennsylvania and ship out to the coast to work on solar.” She says, “We’re not going to take away jobs,” the idea is to create clean energy jobs where fossil fuel work is already on the decline.
On the other hand, fossil fuel industry executives criticize the President for the scope, speed, and direction in which he is moving, lamenting that President Biden is going far further than President Obama ever did. Senator Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) claims, “This is a radical departure from almost any other administration, and I would even say, President Obama.” West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey and five other Republican attorneys general wrote in a letter to the President, “Our states have led the charge in successfully challenging unauthorized and unlawful executive actions, … You can be assured that we will do so again, if necessary.” The Western Energy Alliance, which represents oil and gas producers in Western states, has already filed a lawsuit against the executive order, arguing that “the President exceeded his authority to halt new leases.” Industry executives claim the executive orders, particularly the pause of all new oil and gas leases on federal lands and waters, “will do little to actually reduce United States emissions and lead to lost jobs and more imported oil.”
Former Senator John F. Kerry, now appointed as Biden’s special envoy on climate, explained to reporters following the signing of the executive orders, that the scientific reality of climate change and its economic impact leave the President no choice. Kerry says, “It is now cheaper to deal with the crisis of climate than it is to ignore it,” pointing to the enormous bills footed by taxpayers to recover from the increasingly destructive hurricanes the country has seen in recent years. Kerry says, “We’re spending more money, folks. We’re just not doing it smart. We’re not doing it in a way that would actually sustain us for the long term.”
Heather Zichal, CEO of the American Clean Power Association, and former climate advisor to Obama, says President Biden’s actions are not surprising given the amount of scientific evidence of unprecedented global warming coupled with a significant reduction in cost for renewable energy. Zichal says regarding concerns over the bold scope and pace of the President’s orders, “If we’re going to remove 5.1 billion tons of greenhouse gas emissions annually and get to zero [emissions] in 30 years, this is going to require drastic action.” The CEO says members of the American Clean Power Association are prepared to invest $1 trillion in the coming years on clean energy projects. Zichal says, “We see nothing but opportunity.”
According to energy analysts in the United States, with Biden’s climate plan and executive orders, the new administration “could now reasonably promise to cut emissions between 40 and 50 percent below 2005 levels by 2030.” Despite this improvement to the country’s commitment under the Paris Climate Agreement, Europeans and environmental organizations are pressuring the administration to push for even greater reductions, as far as 70 percent below 2005 levels. Climate envoy John Kerry responded to those concerns saying, it is “way too premature” to talk numbers.
Engagement Resources
American Clean Power Association
- The American Clean Power Association works to champion policies that will transform the U.S. power grid to a low-cost, reliable, and renewable power system. The American Clean Power Association
Center for Biological Diversity
- Working to secure a future for all species, great and small, hovering on the brink of extinction. We do so through science, law, and creative media, with a focus on protecting the lands, waters, and climate that species need to survive. https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/
National Resources Defense Council
- Works to safeguard the earth – its people, its plants and animals, and the natural systems on which all life depends. Combining the power of more than three million members and online activists with the expertise of some 700 scientists, lawyers, and policy advocates across the globe to ensure the rights of all people to the air, the water, and the wild. https://www.nrdc.org/
Sources Cited
Estes, N. (2021, January 28). Biden killed the Keystone Pipeline. Good, but he doesn’t get a climate pass just yet. Retrieved January 31, 2021, from https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/biden-killed-the-keystone-pipeline-good-but-he-doesn-t-get-a-climate-pass-just-yet/ar-BB1daIP1?MSCC=1605775911
Executive Order on Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad. (2021, January 27). Retrieved January 31, 2021, from https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/01/27/executive-order-on-tackling-the-climate-crisis-at-home-and-abroad/
Friedman, L. (2021, January 27). In Sweeping Actions on Climate, Biden to ‘Pause’ Oil and Gas Leasing. Retrieved January 31, 2021, from https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/27/climate/biden-climate-executive-orders.html
Juliet Eilperin, B. (2021, January 28). As Biden vows monumental action on climate change, a fight with the fossil fuel industry has only begun. Retrieved January 31, 2021, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2021/01/27/biden-climate-change/
Nilsen, E. (2021, January 26). Biden’s “all of government” plan for climate, explained. Retrieved January 31, 2021, from https://www.vox.com/22242572/biden-climate-change-plan-explained
Russonello, G. (2021, January 28). Biden Walks the Climate-Economy Tightrope. Retrieved January 31, 2021, from https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/28/us/politics/biden-climate-economy-jobs.html
Who Gets to Decide What Speech is Allowed on Social Media?
Brief #35 – Technology
By Charles A. Rubin
Who Gets to Decide What Speech is Allowed on Social Media?
February 3, 2021
Policy Summary
In the aftermath of the January 6, 2021 riot at the US Capitol inspired by then President Trump, Twitter and Facebook banned him permanently from their platforms for violations of their terms of service. In the days that followed and in the wake of other individuals being prohibited from using those services, many in the right wing camp moved to services such as Parler and Gab. These services were removed from both the Apple and Android application stores and Parler’s servers, hosted in the Amazon Web Services cloud infrastructure, were shut down.
While these moves were applauded as a justified response to hate speech and incitement to violence, the ability of these companies to take these actions unilaterally present a challenge to due process and a risk to every viewpoint’s right to be heard. There is a national debate that needs to occur and the Biden Administration needs to lead in determining how all media, electronic and otherwise, need to comport.
Analysis
In October 2020, President Trump persuaded the two app providers, Apple and Google to remove TikTok from their app stores in a move to pressure the company to sell operations and recommendation algorithms to US entities. This move was in response to Trump’s insistence that TikTok, as it was then constituted, posed a threat to US national security. In January, these same companies with Amazon joining the fray, took it upon themselves to exercise a similar ban against the social media company Parler that they had determined had become a haven for right wing extremists.
Whereas the ban was the correct course given the threat to the republic, it opens the door to future actions that might be more arbitrary in nature. The question that is raised, though, is who gets to decide what speech is permitted on social media platforms and what recourse does a platform or individual have if they feel they are being unjustly disqualified from participating or operating their service?
This is not entirely a new problem but the speed and immediacy of the internet make it one that the Biden Administration must tackle early on. In his Inaugural Address Joe Biden made a vow of a kind that few Presidents have in American history. He warned of “a rise of political extremism, white supremacy, domestic terrorism,” which, he pledged, “we must confront and we will defeat.” This is an effort that will largely center on controlling the information that is allowed to circulate on-line.
Donald Trump showed Americans how easy it was to exploit the First Amendment protections and the power of social media in order to mount politically effective disinformation campaigns. He may not have unleashed the monster but he gave it new agency. President Biden, we hope, is setting us on the path to enacting reforms that protect free speech but set guardrails for the digital age.
Resistance Resources
- The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation focuses on a host of critical issues at the intersection of technological innovation and public policy
- Access Now defends and extends the digital rights of users at risk around the world
- The Electronic Freedom Foundation is a nonprofit defending digital privacy, free speech, and innovation for 30 years and counting.
- Fight for the Future is group of artists, engineers, activists, and technologists who fight for a future where technology liberates not oppresses.
President Biden’s Day One Executive Order Revokes Prior Trump Orders On 2020 Census
Policy Summary: On January 20, 2021 President Joe Biden issued “Executive Order On Ensuring A Lawful And Accurate Enumeration and Apportionment Pursuant to the Decennial Census.” This was the second executive order President Biden signed after being inaugurated earlier in the day. The executive order in Section 5 specifically revokes President Trump’s Executive Order No. 13880 of July 11, 2019 (Collecting Information About Citizenship Status in Connection With the Decennial Census) and Presidential Memorandum of July 21, 2020 (Excluding Illegal Aliens From The Apportionment Base Following The 2020 Census).
The executive order clarifies, with reference to Constitutional language and Supreme Court precedents, that the President will submit to Congress a report with “the tabulation of total population by State that reflects the whole number of persons whose usual residence was in each State.” This differs markedly from ex – President Trump’s executive orders because it will not consider a person’s citizenship status in order for the person to be counted and will revert to the previous method of counting “whole number of persons.” LEARN MORE
Policy Analysis: President Biden’s revocation of the two actions taken by ex – President Trump is a clear rebuke from how Trump tried to politicize the activities of the process of counting persons for the decennial census. When Trump took office, the law was clear. In order to apportion seats for the House of Representatives the count of persons would be the whole number of persons without regard for a person’s immigration or citizenship status. This was the standard since the adoption of the Fourteenth Amendment nearly one hundred fifty years ago. But when Trump came into office he tried to appeal to those voters who were wary of immigrants and who wanted tougher anti – immigration policies. By trying to include a question on citizenship status on the census questionnaire and exclude illegal aliens from the apportionment base Trump sought to do two things. First, he tried to discourage immigrants from responding to the questionnaire. Because of fear of government inquiry, immigrants who were not citizens would not be inclined to respond to any kind of government requests. The lack of participation would then skew the numbers of persons living in the State, as they would not be counted in the final state totals. This could have impacted how many representatives a State would get in the next apportionment. Second, Trump’s Presidential Memorandum took the next logical step and tried to exclude illegal aliens from being counted at all. The likely result of these actions would be an inaccurate apportionment of Representatives by State and an allocation of financial resources in areas that would not be representative of their need because of the inaccurate population count.
President Biden’s executive actions will likely reset the decennial census activities in a manner that is more reflective of how the census had been lawfully conducted in the past and distance it from the partisanship that Trump tried to inject in them. Instead of the divisive actions that sought to marginalize immigrant groups President Biden’s executive order seeks to ensure that every inhabitant of this country will have representation in the House of Representatives and that the process in counting persons and apportioning representatives reverts to the time – tested and lawful practices that had been used through the years. LEARN MORE, LEARN MORE
Engagement Resources:
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) – infopage on 2020 Census.
Brennan Center for Justice – infopage on group’s litigation efforts regarding the 2020 Census.
This brief was compiled by Rod Maggay. If you have comments or want to add the name of your organization to this brief, please contact Rod@USResistnews.org.
President Biden Signs Four Executive Orders Aimed at Racial Equality
Brief # 6 Social Justice
President Biden Signs Four Executive Orders Aimed at Racial Equality
by Erika Shannon
February 1, 2021
POLICY SUMMARY
On January 20th, Joe Biden was finally sworn in as the 46th president of the United States. In his first week in office, there has been a flurry of executive orders being signed by the new president-elect; some of these are aimed at repairing what Trump may have broken, and others are aimed at making America a better and more inclusive place for all. Of the 24 executive orders signed by President Biden so far, four of them involve promoting racial equality. These four executive orders are comprised of: directing the Department of Housing and Urban Development to “take steps necessary to redress racially discriminatory federal housing policies,” directing the Department of Justice to end its use of private prisons, reaffirming the federal government’s “commitment to tribal sovereignty and consultation,” and combatting xenophobia against Asian American and Pacific Islanders. It is important to familiarize yourself with the executive orders being signed, as they are laying some of the groundwork for Joe Biden’s plans for his presidency.
The four executive orders regarding racial justice have all been prompted by specific problems in America. It is no secret that housing policies in the U.S. have been discriminatory for a long time, with minorities often being mistreated or denied access to affordable housing in desirable neighborhoods. While things such as the Fair Housing Act have been aimed at minimizing discrimination, there are still underhanded examples of mistreatment of minorities in the housing market. Studies show that real estate agents show fewer available homes and apartments to minorities than equally qualified white people. In turn, minorities housing options are restricted, which is a serious problem.
When it comes to private prisons, they are run much differently from public prisons. A study done by the Justice Department in 2016 indicated that private prisons see higher rates of assault, use of force incidents, and lockdowns than public prisons. These problems have caused people to become concerned with the way private prisons are operated, and this executive order aims to address that.
The United States was essentially built on stolen land, and over the years that fact has fallen by the wayside. Native Americans still face threats to their land, with things like the Dakota Access Pipeline that intrude on native lands.
The final executive order on Asian and Pacific Islander xenophobia is directly related to coronavirus. With the virus’s supposed origins being Wuhan, China, there has been a lot of negativity surrounding Asians abroad, as well as Asian Americans. For a while, there was a period of time where people were not patronizing Chinese restaurants in American cities, which was hurting Asian Americans financially. While Trump was in office, he used the harmful rhetoric of referring to coronavirus as the “China virus,” which only further alienated Asians and Pacific Islanders. These four executive orders look like they are going to be a step in the right direction, but it is a bit early to tell if President Biden will follow through with his promise of promoting racial equity.
POLICY ANALYSIS
President Bieen’s executive orders regarding racial equity are important for a few reasons. First and foremost, they’re important because our former President, Donald Trump, did nothing to promote racial justice in the U.S. If anything, his refusal to condemn white supremacy has exacerbated racial tensions; at the very least, it has made many of his racist followers come out of the woodwork and act on their racist ideals.
There is a long way to go before there is a bigger sense of inclusion for minorities in the U.S. For example, while the executive order to close private prisons is good, there are far bigger problems regarding race in our justice system. The whole justice system needs reform, and something must be done to address systemic misconduct in police departments across the country. Here in America, there are actually only 14,000 inmates still located in private prisons; this constitutes only around 9% of total people incarcerated. It is clear that the bigger problem has not yet been tackled, but there is hope that our new President will right some of the wrongs that have plaguing minorities in America for centuries. Taking any course of action is better than sitting back and letting things go on as they are. While President Biden has signed many executive orders in his first week, these four regarding racial equity are a big change from what we’ve seen in the past four years with Trump in office. There is optimism that Biden will continue to take bigger steps towards racial equity for all here in the U.S.
Engagement Resources
- To learn more about housing discrimination or report an incident, visit the National Fair Housing Aliance website.
- To get involved in the fight for prison reform, there are resources available at the Prison Policy Initiative and Fair Fight Initiative
- To report an incident or find out more about combatting Asian xenophobia in the US, visit Asian Americans Advancing Justice.
AMERICANS ON AMERICA: WHAT MY COUNTRY MEANS TO ME
A U.S. RESIST NEWS INVESTIGATIVE REPORT
AMERICANS ON AMERICA: WHAT MY COUNTRY MEANS TO ME
BY LINDA F. HERSEY
Americans on America is a U.S. RESIST NEWS investigative report series in which we interview ordinary American on the values they believe their country stands for, and what their country needs to do to live up to those values.
# 3 Yemer Augilar ( Son of Guatemalan Immigrants ) – Safety is the most important value for them; living in a California community where they are not threatened by gang violence and can help provide the basics for their siblings here, as well as their mother back in Guatemala.
Jaime Aguilar left his wife, children and the only home he had known to make a new life in America, without the entrenched poverty and threats of violence that were all too common in Guatemala.
After 15 back-breaking years working menial jobs, Aguilar saved enough money and processed the needed paperwork to bring his three children to his adopted home of California.
But Aguilar only had a short time with his children, now young adults, after he suffered an aneurysm in 2019 that rendered him unresponsive and in need of constant care. Jaime Aguliar passed away in December 2020.
Today, Aguilar’s eldest son, 25-year-old Yemer, is the chief breadwinner working at a menial job.
There are an estimated 1.3 million people from Guatemala making their home in the United States, according to federal statistics. Guatemalans are the sixth-largest Hispanic population in the United States.
The Aguilars’ story – which Jemer told to U.S. Resist News in a series of interviews, with the help of a translator — shows that each immigrant’s journey is unique, rarely linear and not easy.
Limited Job Skills and Education
The promise of a middle-class life that brought European immigrants to the United States in the early 1900s is not the reality that many immigrants from Central America experience today. While there is opportunity, prosperity eludes workers who may not speak English with fluency and lack job skills and/or a college degree.
There is no clear path to follow. Yet Yemer Aguilar is determined to continue his father’s efforts to build a life in the United States, a better life than they had in Guatemala.
Yemer works at a fast-food outlet. He does not have a computer or access to the Internet to take English as a Second Language classes. Without a college education or specialized skills, opportunities are scarce for employment that can sustain his family.
Because he is in the U.S. on a visa, without permanent residency, he does not qualify for food stamps, general assistance or Medicaid, government benefits that are a crucial safety net for people in poverty.
He is working through the bureaucratic process and only recently connected with a nonprofit agency that can help put immigrants like him on a more certain path to security and citizenship.
While Yemer appreciates the opportunity and freedom that a democratic society brings, he admits that life here is “duro” – hard. It was not easy at first for him to find employment. While he now has a steady job, it is low-paying, part time and lacks health insurance.
Yemer’s sister, 18, works alongside him, filling fast-food orders. The younger son is disabled by seizures and cannot work; without a “green card,” he cannot qualify for Medicare, which provides benefits for people with serious disabilities. The two siblings care for him, which limits their time and ability to connect with the greater community.
U.S. Represents ‘Safety’ for Immigrant Family
Asked about the American values that he appreciates most, Yemer does not pause: “Seguridad.”
Safety indeed for himself and his siblings means the most to him — living in a California community where he is not threatened by gang violence and can help provide the basics for his siblings here, as well as his mother back in Guatemala.
He also is realistic. Yemer says it is best to wait before trying to bring his mother to the United States. He cannot handle much more responsibility than he has now.
Yemer is proud that he could have a small funeral that honored his father and the elder man’s dedication to family. He holds up a photo of his father’s white coffin; a slender vase with flowers was next to it on a dais.
Yemer now wants to have his father buried in his home country, in the village where he grew up. He is trying to raise money toward that effort. It is unclear if he will be able to fulfill that dream. He is connecting with California organizations that may be able to provide a grant for such a request, which is not uncommon among immigrants from Central America.
Yemer also is aware that immigration is a controversial issue, with the Trump administration painting a stark picture of immigrants like himself as criminals and a threat to society. That could not be further from the truth.
A grocer where the elder Aguilar worked as a janitor recently held a modest fundraiser for the family to help defray funeral costs. A cardboard box asking for donations sat next to the register. A photo of Jaime smiling, with prominent Mayan features, was taped to the side of the box.
Marta, one of the store clerks, recalled Jaime, who was in his 50s, as a “protector” and “gentleman.”
She said that Jaime Aguilar used to sit and wait for her to finish her shift to ensure her safety, as she left the store alone. She would bring him homemade tamales every year at Christmas.
“Jaime cared about people,” she said. “He would send presents to people [in his village]. He was important to them. He was a success.”
RESOURCES
has a vision is to create a fair financial marketplace for hardworking people, assisting applicants with grants and other types of funding resources.
Latino Economic Development Center is a Washington, D.C., based nonprofit that equips Latinos and other underserved communities with the skills and financial tools to create a better future.
Hispanic Federation seeks to empower and advance the Hispanic community, support Hispanic families, and strengthen Latino institutions.
Americanos sobre América
Una Historia de Oportunidades y Dificultades de una familia Gualtemalteca en los Estados Unidos
Por Linda F. Hersey
(Tradducion: Kris Sosa)
Jaime Aguilar dejó a su esposa, sus hijos y el único hogar que había conocido para hacer una nueva vida en los Estados Unidos, sin la pobreza arraigada y las amenazas de violencia que eran demasiado comunes en Guatemala.
Después de 15 años agotadores trabajando en trabajos de baja categoría, Aguilar ahorró suficiente dinero y procesó el papeleo necesario para traer a sus tres hijos a su hogar adoptivo de California.
Pero Aguilar solo tuvo poco tiempo con sus hijos, ahora adultos jóvenes, ya que sufrió un aneurisma en 2019 que lo dejó insensible y en necesidad de atención constante. Jaime Aguliar falleció en diciembre del 2020.
Ahora, el hijo mayor de Aguilar, Yemer, de 24 años, que solo estuvo un año con su padre en los Estados Unidos antes de que el anciano sufriera un aneurisma que lo dejó con daño cerebral, es el principal sostén de la familia. Sin embargo, Yemer Aguilar está decidido a continuar los esfuerzos de la familia para construir una vida en los Estados Unidos, una vida mejor que la que tenían en Guatemala.
Su recuerdo más constante de su padre era la dedicación del anciano al trabajo y al empleo. “Trabajaba todo el tiempo”, dijo Yemer a través de un traductor.
Yemer trabaja en un establecimiento de comida rápida y su inglés es limitado. No tiene una computadora ni acceso a Internet para tomar clases de inglés como segundo idioma. Sin una educación universitaria o habilidades especializadas, son escasas las oportunidades de empleo que pueda sostener a su familia.
La hermana de Yemer, de 18 años, ha trabajado junto a él, atendiendo pedidos en una cadena de restaurantes local. El hijo menor está discapacitado por convulsiones y no puede trabajar. Los dos hermanos lo cuidan.
Preguntado qué es lo que más valora en este país, no se detiene: “Seguridad”.
La seguridad para él y sus hermanos es lo más importante para él: vivir en una comunidad de California donde no se ve amenazado por la violencia de las pandillas y puede ayudar a proporcionar lo básico para sus hermanos aquí, así como para su madre en Guatemala.
Yemer está orgulloso de haber podido ofrecer un funeral que honró a su padre y la dedicación del hombre mayor a la familia. Un tendero donde el anciano Aguilar trabajaba como conserje recientemente llevó a cabo una recaudación de fondos modesta para la familia para ayudar a sufragar los costos.
Más que cualquier otra cosa, Yemer ahora quiere que su padre sea enterrado en su país de origen, en el pueblo donde creció. Está tratando de recaudar dinero para ese esfuerzo. No está claro si podrá cumplir ese sueño. Se está conectando con organizaciones de California que podrían proporcionar una subvención para tal solicitud, lo cual no es infrecuente entre los inmigrantes de América Central.
Aunque Yemer aprecia la seguridad y la libertad que brinda una sociedad democrática, admite que la vida aquí es “dura”. Al principio no le resultó fácil encontrar empleo. Los trabajos que ha tenido son trabajos duros con salarios bajos y poca o ninguna seguridad para el futuro.
Una empleada llamada “Rosie”, en el tendero de California donde trabajaba el mayor Aguilar lo recuerda como un “protector” y un caballero. Dijo que Jaime Aguilar solía sentarse y esperar a que ella terminara su turno para garantizar su seguridad, mientras ella salía sola de la tienda. Ella le traía tamales caseros todos los años en Navidad.
“Jaime se preocupaba por la gente”, dijo. “Él enviaba regalos a la gente [en su aldea]. Fue importante, un éxito “.
Outlook for Covid-19 Vaccines in School Communities
Brief # 53 Education Policy
Outlook for Covid-19 Vaccines in School Communities
By Emily Carty
January 26, 2021
Vaccines have been required or recommended in schools for decades now. The CDC urges families to vaccinate their children against chicken pox, measles, and a handful of other illnesses in order to protect their own children as well as the general public. While this is just a recommendation, all 50 states have some laws in place requiring students to be vaccinated against certain diseases and in certain situations. For example, the state might require students of public schools to have certain immunizations while students in private schools are exempt. Nevertheless, there are ways to circumvent these requirements with medical, or in some cases, religious or philosophical exemptions. Forty-five states have religious exemptions, and 15 have philosophical exemptions — California, New York, Maine, Mississippi, and West Virginia only have medical exemptions.
The US has a long history of requiring vaccines for school, with the Supreme Court upholding the requirement as early as 1922. Mandatory vaccinations, with their co-existing exemptions, have proven to be the most important US public health initiative of the past century, nearly eradicating many contagious diseases that used to be commonplace. But the rise of anti-vaccination efforts and biased or misleading information in the media has threatened the success of vaccination programs, with higher exemption rates leading to higher infection rates.
In the wake of US citizens’ growing mistrust of the media, thriving conspiracy theory groups, and anti-maskers, public health officials have made special efforts to educate the public on vaccines and safety considerations. With Covid-19 being a highly contagious disease, officials seek to gain control of it through vaccinations and other precautions such as face masks. History tells us that schools and children are a major component to reaching herd immunity. While risks are lower for serious illness in kids with Covid-19, they can still transmit the virus to more vulnerable community members, which is why vaccinating school-aged children will be critical in fighting the spread of the virus. Plus, families are already used to childhood vaccinations, and pediatricians are used to administering vaccines.
That being said, what does the history of vaccines in schools and current political climate tell us about how the Covid-19 Vaccine rollout might unfold? For starters, many are asking if it will be added to “required” lists once it is widely available and safe for young children. In the past, vaccines were developed over longer periods of time, so it is understandable that individuals are questioning the safety of a rapidly developed vaccine. Nevertheless, rigorous studies and safety protocols are in place to ensure the vaccines will be safe for children before they are put on any required list.
Moderna and Pfizer are just starting clinical trials of the vaccine in adolescents, and they aim to begin more trials for younger kids later this year. Nevertheless, these results will be slower going than the current vaccine, which was approved under an emergency FDA order. So while we wait until the vaccines are ready, school officials are planning well ahead to confront the issue of mandatory Covid vaccinations.
Los Angeles Superintendent of Schools has been the first high-ranking school official to acknowledge that once youth vaccines are widely available they will be added to the roster of mandatory vaccines. Some public health officials don’t want to rush the requirement in schools, but at the same time they are urging drug companies to include more children in the clinical trials. Once adults get vaccinated, and later once children get vaccinated (voluntarily), we can begin to talk about mandatory vaccinations and address issues of herd immunity, personal choice, and public safety. While we must wait patiently, the most realistic path towards the urgent, safe reopening of schools would be to prioritize teachers and school staff for the Covid vaccine.
Teachers and education associations are calling on government leaders to officially add them to the priority list, especially if those same government leaders are pressuring schools to open for in-person learning. If certain grades or classes are officially set to reopen, vaccination plans should prioritize those certain teachers, at least until the general public, including children, are able to get vaccinated. Additionally, the implementation of clear, concrete, and consistent guidance on Federal and State levels will be crucial to decreasing fear and increasing support for vaccinations and school reopening plans in general.
A major win for teacher unions and activist groups was President Biden calling on states and counties to prioritize school staff (after healthcare professionals, of course) so we can be one step closer to safe reopening of schools. So far however, inconsistent vaccine supply and confusing rollout plans have left school communities with questions — in California, small counties have already started vaccinating interested school staff, while some larger counties still don’t know when the vaccines will arrive or how they will distribute them to school staff. This uneven vaccine landscape is playing out across the nation, where spontaneous vaccine shipments might alter the rollout plan at a given moment.
As of January 22, 2021 — 13 states are allowing teachers to be vaccinated, 1 state permits teachers over 50, and 7 states vary by county or other eligibility factors. On the same note, while teachers may be eligible for the vaccine, it leaves a grey area for other school staff, who are also likely to be in contact with students. While they might be deemed as frontline essential workers in the eyes of the CDC, they might be lower on the vaccination list than teachers or might not be specified in the priority list, we must encourage public health leaders to take this into consideration when prioritizing workers and when opening schools.
The vaccination of teachers is off to a promising start so far. Activists across the nation are calling on our new President and local leaders to prioritize equitable distribution of vaccines so we can get our country back up and running safely for everyone. With increased education regarding the Covid vaccine, consistent information, and a clear, structured distribution plan, we can all look forward to returning to schools as safely as is possible until Covid-19 becomes a disease of the past.
Engagement Resources
American Academy of Pediatrics – This professional association of Pediatricians has a page dedicated to ways to take action to promote healthy living for kids. Check out their resources for an impressive list of policy areas affecting children. Sign petitions and send letters to your congress people for state or federal policy issues.
National Education Association – The NEA’s advocacy page is a great resource for finding policy areas that affect school children and teachers alike. Use their fill-in forms to write messages to your representatives about Covid-19 resources, and support for school communities.
National Association of School Nurses – Check out NASN’s list of ways to take action to support health and wellness for school-aged children. Get involved with their advocacy efforts by signing up for their newsletter, donating, or learning about their policy stances and writing your representatives.
Voices for Vaccines – Voices for Vaccines: Parents Speaking up for Immunization, provides tools to talk about vaccines, learn more about vaccines, and take action to promote immunization in children for preventable diseases in your community. Check out their section on Covid-19 to learn about the vaccine for children.
Learn More
CDC – Required Vaccines for Child Care and School
Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine – Mandatory School Vaccinations: The Role of Tort Law
AMA Journal of Ethics – School Vaccination Laws
US News – No Vaccination, No School?
National Conference of Legislatures – School Vaccine Exemption Laws
Chalkbeat – Biden Promises Guidance, Vaccines
Ed Source – Inconsistent Vaccine Supply
JAMA – Risks Associated with Vaccine Exemption
KQED – School Staff Lines up for Vaccines
Roanoke – 2000 School Staff Vaccinated
The Atlantic – Children and Herd Immunity
KGW8 – Oregon Governor Prioritizes Teachers over Seniors
LA Times – LA Student Must Get Vaccine
Yemen and Cuba- 2 Foreign Policy Challenges for the Biden Administration
Brief #104 Foreign Policy
Yemen and Cuba- 2 Foreign Policy Challenges for the Biden Administration
By Brandon Mooney
January 29, 2021
With Pompeo and Trump’s State Department now a thing of the past, the Biden administration has turned to the long, arduous task that has faced every incoming administration throughout American history: the review and either reversal or preservation of foreign policies.
Policy Summary:
With Pompeo and Trump’s State Department now a thing of the past, the Biden administration has turned to the long, arduous task that has faced every incoming administration throughout American history: the review and either reversal or preservation of foreign policies. However, the Trump presidency was anything but typical, and it has left behind a complicated legacy that will take serious time and effort to sift through. This legacy is only made more difficult by the feverous, diplomatic equivalent of a closing sale that occurred in the final month of the Trump presidency. Two items of particular interest are the declaration of the Yemeni Ansar Allah, or Houthis, movement as a foreign terrorist organization and the designation of Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism. “Terrorism” has become a loaded and dangerous label that comes with justifiably serious repercussions and should not be taken lightly. This brief will discuss whether these designations were called for, and whether they should be maintained.
Turning first to the Ansar Allah movement, some quick history to set the scene. Yemen has been trapped in a gruesome civil war since 2014, which pits a Western-supplied coalition of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) against rebel Ansar Allah forces. The Saudi coalition is attempting to reinstate deposed Yemeni president Adbrabbuh Mansour Hadi, and the Ansar Allah insurgents having once supported former Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh, but are now fighting for their own regime. I would encourage readers to do their own research into the conflict, as it is vastly more complicated than the watered-down rendition I just gave. But, putting that aside, the Ansar Allah movement is an Islamist Shia faction, and due to Saudi Arabia and the UAE being Sunni-majority states, they perceive a Shia-controlled Yemen as a dangerous regional threat in their wide-ranging Middle Eastern proxy war against Shia-majority Iran. The fact that Yemen shares a border with Saudi Arabia does not help matters. The U.S. and the U.K. have been providing the Saudi coalition with weaponry for years, and Trump’s rather chummy relationship with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is notorious.
With the history laid out, it is perhaps no wonder that the Trump administration declared the Ansar Allah movement to be a terrorist organization. Not only do they threaten a key U.S. ally in the Middle East, but they have been restricting aid, placing arbitrary taxes on aid, and utilizing civilians in their war tactics. Such was the explanation for the designation. The now-newly designated Secretary of State for the Biden administration, Antony Blinken, has publicly stated that Biden wishes to terminate U.S. support for the Saudi-led campaign in Yemen, with the justification being that it not in our national interest. The choice to declare Ansar Allah a terrorist organization is under review.
Now to the issue of Cuba. I assume that most know of the fraught relationship between Cuba and the U.S., stretching back to Castro’s socialist revolution and the Cold War, so I will leave that for another day. The explanation for the label of state sponsor of terrorism was that Cuba has allowed terrorists to live within its borders and has sponsored international terrorism. The fingered terrorists are a Black Panther who escaped prison in 1979 after killing a police officer, and guerillas wanted in Colombia in connection with the bombing of a police academy. The charge of sponsorship of international terrorism is specifically attributed to Cuba’s support for battered Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro, and more vaguely attributed to a harmful influence in the Western Hemisphere. It is expected that the Biden administration will overturn the state sponsor of terrorism designation.
Analysis:
Firs, there is absolutely no doubt that Ansar Allah forces bear significant responsibility for the grievous humanitarian crisis and various war crimes that have been committed in Yemen. This is not up for debate. However, when reviewing the designation of Ansar Allah as a terrorist organization, we must also ensure that it does not impede or stop the provision of humanitarian assistance. The United Nations estimates that as of March 2017, 69% of the population requires humanitarian aid, with 8.4 million Yemenis being identified as severely food insecure or at risk of starvation. To put that into perspective, that’s the entire state of Virginia starving to death. In addition, Yemen has little domestic agriculture, importing over 90% of its staple foods. If the international community does not provide aid, we are condemning millions to death.
To their credit, the Trump administration had been supportive of aid to Yemen in the past. In 2019, the U.S. alone gave Yemen $700 million. However, efforts were complicated by the Saudi coalition attempting to blockade relief from entering the country and the U.S. itself selling weaponry that was then being used against said civilians. And when aid did enter, the coalition attempted to make the journey so arduous and checkered with fees that it never reached Ansar Allah-controlled territory. A large portion of the Saudi coalition’s strategy is to starve out the rebel forces, and by extension, the civilians. Yet the rebels have done little better, as they have regularly demanded taxes for transporting supplies and re-directed significant aid resources into their own networks at the expense of starving civilians.
To put it simply, relief supplies must flow unrestrained into Yemen. The cost of attempting to stem supplies would spell disaster for millions of innocents. Marking Ansar Allah as a terrorist organization means that such aid will slow to a dribble and possibly even cease. The situation is far too murky to really tell if one is providing relief to the rebels or civilians. Distinction is wholly impossible on the ground. It would lead to humanitarians abandoning Yemen because they are too afraid of the U.S. government’s wrath. There are other ways to punish Ansar Allah for its transgressions and bring them to the bargaining table. In addition, it is hypocritical and signals significant political favoritism to not discipline the Saudi coalition, which is equally at fault.
Looking at Cuba, there is similarly justification for the designation of state sponsor of terrorism. It is harboring terrorists. Colombia most certainly considers the paramilitaries to be terrorists. However, the entire issue is complicated by Cuba currently brokering a peace agreement between the paramilitary group in question and the Colombian government, with the guerrilla’s leadership residing in Cuba. There is also a good argument that one should return escaped murderers to their country of origin. The accusation of sponsoring international terrorism due to Cuban support for Maduro is tenuous, however, and the accusation of having a damaging influence is far too vague. Yet many of the consequences Cuba suffers from now being placed on the terrorism list have already been and continue to be inflicted by the American embargo of Cuba. If anything, the label is more symbolic as a result.
I do not claim to know the right answer when it comes to Cuba. Does returning a criminal now well into their 70’s warrant worsening an already fraught relationship that many in the U.S. wish to mend? If you want to view the Trump administration in the worst light, placing Cuba on the terrorism list was an attempt to make Biden-Cuba relations more difficult. If you wish to view it from a calculated political position, it was likely an attempt to curry favor with anti-Castro Cubans in Florida ahead of the election.
In summary, both of these foreign policy decisions are damaging to the credibility of the designation of terrorism by the U.S. They clearly display that the label of terrorist can and is affected by political leanings. Sure, most of us know that, but it is a wholly different affair to make it plain and clear. Although I would argue that Ansar Allah should not be deemed a terrorist organization at the moment due to the humanitarian repercussions and would lean towards improving our relationship with Cuba, this is a decision left up to the new leadership at the State Department. I have more faith that they will act in the national interest than I had in the Trump administration, but then again, only time will tell.
Engagement Resources:
Amnesty International – a good source for information about the humanitarian situation in Yemen.
Action Against Hunger – an NGO working to address starvation in Yemen.
Paramilitary Bombing – a news article about the bombing in Colombia.
Biden’s Administration Proposes Sweeping New Immigration Law and Ends Separation of Children from Their Parents
Brief # 114 Immigration Policy
Biden’s Administration Proposes Sweeping New Immigration Law and Ends Separation of Children from Their Parents
By Linda F. Hersey
January 28, 2021
The zero-tolerance program that defined the Trump Administration’s policy on immigration – separating hundreds of immigrant children from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border – is officially over.
Acting Attorney General Monty Wilkinson sent a letter to all U.S. attorneys that rescinds the order, effectively erasing the policy that allowed for federally prosecuting undocumented parents and separating them from their children.
Although immigrants can still be deported if they do not have documents or protections to stay in the U.S., they typically are not charged in federal court and separated from their children. The Wilkinson letter – first reported by NBC News — encourages prosecutors to “use discretion” in prosecuting minor border offenses.
Although the Trump administration stopped separating families at the U.S.-Mexican border in 2018, after public outcry and negative publicity, the federal law had not been officially rescinded. This meant the law technically could be applied by federal prosecutors in court cases against families arriving in the U.S. illegally. That guidance is now gone from the criminal code.
President Joe Biden, meanwhile, has yet to sign an executive order for reuniting families separated from their children, as he pledged during his campaign. But the American Civil Liberties Union stated that the Wilkinson directive is a good first step to ending “criminal penalties for illegal entry.”
‘Rescinding the Zero-Tolerance Policy’
The letter by Wilkinson is titled the “Rescinding the Zero-Tolerance Policy for Offenses Under 8 USC 1235.” Wilkinson’s letter follows the Biden Administration’s proposals for sweeping immigration reforms that will require passage in Congress. Biden unveiled the proposals in his first day of office.
“The bill proposes changes to reimagine diverse areas of immigration from employment- and family-based immigration to asylum, refugee, and other humanitarian protections, as well as border security,” according to an article in the National Law Review.
Those reforms include a pathway to citizenship for 11 million undocumented immigrants, expanded refugee resettlement and more technology at the border for monitoring and surveillance.
Under the Biden Administration’s U.S. Citizens Act of 2021, the reforms:
- Create a more efficient pathway to citizenship for so-called “dreamers,” millions of undocumented people who arrived in the U.S. as children. The bill would place them on a fast-track to citizenship. Up to 11 million immigrants could be affected.
- Enable children from Central America to apply for refugee and asylum in their home countries, instead of traveling to the border on foot and often alone, placing them in danger of violence and exploitation.
- Hire more immigration judges to handle a backlog of asylum cases.
- Establish new language in immigration laws that changes the term “alien” to “noncitizen.” The bill pledges to improve the tone of the immigration system by “restor[ing” humanity and American values to our immigration system,” according to the National Law Review.
- Prohibit presidential immigration bans based on religion.
Migrant Children Detained in Metal Cages
Coupled with the Biden immigration reform package, the Wilkinson directive formally ends a disturbing chapter in U.S. immigration policy and punitive attitudes toward migrants by U.S. leadership.
Under Trump, 3,000 families were separated in 2017-2018 at the U.S.-Mexico border, with some children sent thousands of miles away to holding facilities in other states. The practice was abruptly halted, after photos were published of young children forcibly removed from their parents by border agents, and later detained in metal cages, made of fencing, at detention facilities referred to as “child prisons.”
Trump’s zero-tolerance policy enabled prosecutors to charge undocumented parents in federal court on misdemeanors, such as crossing the border illegally.
While advocates continue to work toward reuniting migrant children living in the U.S. with deported parents, largely in Central America, the parents of more than 600 children have yet to be found. Most of those children are now living with court-approved sponsors in the U.S.
The ACLU is arguing a class-action lawsuit seeking damages for parents and their children who were separated at the U.S. border.
Lee Gelernt, the lead ACLU attorney in the class action case, said that while Wilkinson’s letter is a start to ending “criminal penalties for illegal entry,” Congress needs to repeal laws that federally prosecuted parents for illegal entry, which allowed for border agents to separate families.
Engagement Resources
ACLUS’s Immigrants’ Rights Project works to expand and enforce the civil liberties and rights of immigrants.
U.S. Citizens’ Act of 2021: Fact Sheet outlines a sweeping immigration reform bill under the Biden Administration that would provide a pathway to citizenship for up to 11 million immigrants.
National Law Review examines Biden’s proposed immigration law changes under the U.S. Citizens’ Act of 2021.
Facebook Profits From Political Polarization and Violence
Technology Brief #34
Facebook Profits From Political Polarization and Violence
By Scout Burchill
January 28, 2021
Summary:
Facebook has been targeting online “patriot” and militia groups with ads for military gear such as body armor and weapon accessories. Despite a letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg from members of Congress, calls from State Attorney Generals, and internal warnings by Facebook employees, research by the Tech Transparency Project reveals that these ads were still targeting users as late as January 17th.
According to the report published by the Tech Transparency Project, Facebook not only targeted users with ads for military tactical gear, but the company’s algorithms also actively recommended links to other nationalist and military groups.
In the wake of the violence on Capitol Hill, social media companies are coming under greater scrutiny for their role in contributing to the polarization, radicalization and rank division within American society. Although there have been plenty of debates about specific decisions that companies like Facebook have made in recent days, the dire state of affairs has put renewed emphasis on the built-in aspects of Facebook’s business model, which profits from conflict and division and has been criticized as an engine of radicalization.
Analysis:
Facebook makes money by selling targeted advertising. It sounds simple, but the results can be deadly. In order to sell targeted ads, Facebook surveils its users and collects massive amounts of data on each user so it can target them more effectively. They are very good at targeting potential customers simply because they know so much about us. Because the company profits from users seeing ads, the platform is designed to keep users on the site for as long as possible. To do this, their algorithms promote content that fosters ‘engagement.’ Engaging content also tends to be incendiary, sensationalistic and conflict-driven. For Facebook, it’s a winning business formula. The more we scroll, the more information they collect, the more ads we see and the better equipped they are at keeping us scrolling while plastering our eyeballs with ads for the perfect pair of shoes we never knew we needed. Businesses like these have inspired new economic terms like the attention economy, which describe how companies vie to win over people’s dwindling attention spans as if they were mining for scarce resources. The truth is, it’s an exploitative business that is wreaking havoc on our society’s collective mind. There is a mounting pile of evidence to suggest that Facebook rakes in profits while it radicalizes individuals and contributes to the growing amounts of political violence in our society.
The radicalization machine works in two ways. Firstly, the Facebook algorithm feeds users radicalizing, sensationalist content to capture their attention and keep them online. Content is promoted by Facebook’s algorithm not by standards of quality, but by how much engagement it receives. Of course this method tends to promote addictive or even incendiary content. Conspiracy theories, misinformation and conflict is part of the product. It’s no secret that over the past decade, social media has turned fringe actors into stars. Besides Facebook, one of the most extreme engines of radicalization is YouTube, which is owned by Google. Tristan Harris, co-founder of the Center For Humane Technology and star of Netflix’s excellent documentary The Social Dilemma, illustrates this built-in function of attention maximizing algorithms by pointing out that Alex Jones’ Youtube videos have been recommended to users 15 billion times. Last year, the New York Times published an article detailing how YouTube radicalized the youth of Brazil by systematically recommending far-right figures, priming the public and paving the way for Jair Bolsonaro, the current president of Brazil, who openly pines for the days of the military government.
The second way the attention maximizing business model radicalizes users is by rewarding users who post radical content. Last week, the New York Times published a remarkable op-ed showing how Facebook’s algorithms rewarded users who began to embrace more extremist views. One of the people featured in the article was a 26 year old college student and veteran from Georgia. For years his Facebook feed was relatively standard and garnered little attention from others. That all changed during the 2020 presidential election, when he posted his thoughts about suspicious activity surrounding the election. He instantly saw a sharp rise in engagement, mainly in the form of likes and comments, which encouraged him to lean into these views. That was November. By January he was marching on Capitol Hill to ‘stop the steal’. By the end of the article, he is disowned by his family for his views and actions, and is left with nowhere else to turn but back to Facebook to chase the feelings of community he once found there. This anecdote presents the flip side of the algorithm. By seeking to extract as much attention from users as possible it constantly nudges them toward increasingly conspiratorial and fringe views.
These perverse incentive structures are baked into the business model of targeted advertising. There are a myriad of other negative consequences, as well. For one, surveillance and data collection are a key part of this business. Every post a user reads, the algorithm does, too. Also, the personalization of the experience causes the algorithm to treat everyone differently. This makes it really hard to have a shared sense of reality, something that is pretty important if a society is to govern itself. Another serious harm is that these companies have monopolized their market and currently absorb nearly all digital ad revenues, effectively sucking money away from funding good journalism and allocating it toward clickbait instead. This has wide-ranging effects on society as good information is the lifeblood of healthy democracies. One final point is that many smaller businesses now depend on social media for customers, which can leave them entirely at the mercy of small imperceptible changes in policy or algorithmic emphasis. Tinkering with the search algorithm at Facebook headquarters could decimate your favorite niche outlet, which is exactly what happened to Little Things, a small digital publisher that shared positive stories and informative articles for mothers and parents.
If the Biden Administration wants to tackle the harms of Big Tech, taking on the exploitative ad-driven and attention-mining business model would be a great way to do so. It avoids the highly politicized debates about specific instances of deplatforming and gets to the root source why fringe conspiracies and violent groups proliferate on social media. There are many organizations and individuals already pushing for this type of reform with different ideas about how to accomplish it. Some argue that there should be reforms to Section 230 in which content that is promoted by algorithms should not be immune from liability, others argue for treating social media like other communications infrastructure and regulating it as such, others argue for a combination of antitrust and regulation, while others advocate for rules that promote more ethical designs. All of these ideas should be considered by the administration because nearly anything is better than what we have now.
Engagement Resources:
https://www.economicliberties.us/big-tech-monopolies/
Learn More:
Tech Transparency Project Report
https://www.techtransparencyproject.org/articles/how-facebook-profits-insurrection
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ryanmac/facebook-profits-military-gear-ads-capitol-riot
Accountability and Action Letter From Congress to Facebook
Tristan Harris on Alex Jones
https://twitter.com/tristanharris/status/1187403044062760960?lang=en
How Youtube Radicalized Brazil
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/11/world/americas/youtube-brazil.html
NYT Op-Ed on Facebook Promoting Far-Right Views
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/14/opinion/facebook-far-right.html