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The Battle Against Immigrants Continues: Lamar Smith Leads Another Political Showcase Trial to Demonize Immigrants
WASHINGTON
There he goes again.
This time, Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX)--the GOP's top political strategist for Latino outreach--is taking on asylum-seekers fleeing persecution and seeking freedom in America. Today, Smith's House Judiciary Committee is marking up the "Keep Our Communities Safe Act," H.R. 1932. This made-for-TV show trial/hearing has little to do with keeping communities safe. It has everything to do with trying to keep Republican legislative districts safe for re-election by waving the flag of fear against immigrants.
In typical Smith fashion, he will pretend that his legislation is simply about protecting the public from dangerous predators. But the truth is, his legislation goes well beyond targeting violent offenders, to also authorize prolonged and even permanent detention of asylum-seekers and long-term legal permanent residents who pose absolutely no danger to society.
Following is a statement from Frank Sharry, Executive Director of America's Voice:
"Immigrant and Latino voters are tired of immigration legislation that makes the system worse, and they're tired of being called a bunch of criminals by Smith and his crew. It's strange to me that House Republican leadership would continue to let Smith and his side-kicks Elton Gallegly (R-CA) and Steve King (R-IA) run the show, when the Party is at a crisis point with Latino voters. If they needed any more evidence, Sharron Angle's abysmal 8% showing with Latinos in 2010 should have been enough to convince the GOP that following the Smith approach to immigration politics is downright deadly for the Republican Party.
"Rep. Smith may think he's fooling the public by focusing on dangerous criminals in his remarks, but Latino and immigrant voters will see through his distortions and the GOP's demonization of immigrants. This legislation goes well beyond the stated problem, and would sweep up refugees and other lawfully-residing immigrants in the process.
"If Smith were really interested in addressing the problem with certain countries refusing to accept deportees, he would explore ideas like the new DOS and DHS collaboration to compel better international cooperation by imposing stiffer sanctions on such countries. Clearly, he's not interested in constructive solutions, he's interested in tightening the screws on all immigrants."
America's Voice -- Harnessing the power of American voices and American values to win common sense immigration reform. The mission of America's Voice is to realize the promise of workable and humane comprehensive immigration reform. Our goal is to build the public support and create the political momentum for reforms that will transform a dysfunctional immigration system that does not work into a regulatory system that does.
LATEST NEWS
Global Inaction Decried as Sudan Suffers World's 'Largest Humanitarian Crisis'
"Amid the rising tide of hate speech and ethnically driven violence and reprisals, we fear the darkest chapters of this conflict have yet to unfold," said the head of one U.N. mission.
Apr 15, 2025
Human rights groups on Tuesday marked two years of civil war in Sudan by decrying "international neglect" and urging the international community do more to end the conflict, while one United Nations official warned that the worst of the conflict may be still to come.
"The world has witnessed two years of ruthless conflict which has trapped millions of civilians in harrowing situations, subjecting them to violations and suffering with no end in sight," said Mohamed Chande Othman, chair of the U.N.'s Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan, on Monday. "Amid the rising tide of hate speech and ethnically driven violence and reprisals, we fear the darkest chapters of this conflict have yet to unfold."
Sudan has been racked by violence since fighting erupted between the between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF)—the nation's official military—and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in April 2023. The civil war has also led to famine in certain areas of the country and mass displacement.
The head of the U.N. Children's Fund warned that Sudan is experiencing the world's largest and most devastating humanitarian crisis, according to a statement from last month.
"Sudan is now worse off than ever before," Elise Nalbandian, a regional advocacy and communications manager for Oxfam International, toldThe Guardian. "The largest humanitarian crisis, largest displacement crisis, largest hunger crisis... It's breaking all sorts of wrong records."
The two year mark of the start of the civil war comes on the heels of a wave of attacks in displacement camps and around the city of El Fasher carried out by paramilitary forces, according to The Guardian. Nine workers with Relief International were killed as part of the attacks.
"Today is a day of shame. Shame on the perpetrators on both sides of this terrible conflict who have inflicted unimaginable suffering on civilians. Shame on the world for turning away while Sudan burns. Shame on the countries that continue to add fuel to the fire," said Amnesty International's senior director for research, advocacy, policy, and campaigns Erika Guevara Rosas in a statement on Tuesday.
According to Rosas, both the Sudan Armed Forces, Rapid Support Forces, and their allies have committed atrocities, such as sexual violence against women and girls and tortute, that amount to war crimes. "Despite these atrocities, the world has largely chosen to remain passive. Alarmingly, the U.N. Security Council has failed to implement a comprehensive arms embargo on Sudan to halt the constant flow of weapons fueling these heinous crimes," she said.
In an opinion piece published Tuesday, two directors at Human Rights Watch highlighted both the anniversary of the crisis and a conference focused on Sudan that was held Tuesday and hosted by the United Kingdom with the African Union, the European Union, France, and Germany, per Reuters.
"As the U.K. convenes an international gathering on Sudan today, the stakes couldn't be higher for civilians there," the two wrote. "It is essential for the conference to deliver concrete actions designed to stop unfolding atrocities in Darfur and rally high-level support for protecting civilians."
The U.K. must use the conference to "rally global action to prevent more atrocities, starting with the creation of a coalition of states willing to work urgently to protect civilians. It also needs to move ahead with sanctions against commanders," they added.
According to Reuters, the European Union and the U.K. pledged at the conference to increase aid to Sudan.
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Democrats Follow Van Hollen's Lead, Planning El Salvador Trip to Bring Abrego Garcia Home
"A massive congressional delegation should join him with international human rights lawyers," said one state lawmaker. "This moment absolutely requires this."
Apr 15, 2025
With two presidents insisting there's nothing they can do to release Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland sheet metal worker who was sent to a notorious maximum security prison in El Salvador despite a court order barring his deportation there, U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen on Tuesday detailed his plans to go to the Central American country to demand his constituent's safe return—and several other Democrats indicated they would follow his lead.
Van Hollen (D-Md.) announced his intention on Monday in a letter to El Salvador's ambassador to the U.S., saying he wanted to meet with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele during his visit to Washington, D.C. this week and that if Abrego Garcia is not home "by midweek," the senator would travel to El Salvador.
On Tuesday, he told CNN that he had not heard back from Bukele regarding his request.
"I hope to meet with officials of the government of El Salvador," he said, adding that it wasn't clear whether Bukele would be in the country during his visit. "I also hope to visit this notorious prison to see Abrego Garcia... I think the situation for both the Trump administration and the president of El Salvador is unsustainable."
Van Hollen pointed to the meeting Bukele had with U.S. President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House on Monday, in which Bukele insisted he did not have the power to release Abrego Garcia and repeatedly claimed he is a "terrorist" who can't be released into the country.
Abrego Garcia entered the U.S. in 2011, and was accused by a police informant of being a member of the gang MS-13 in 2019. He has denied the allegations and has never been charged with a crime, and a judge found in 2019 that he should not be deported to his home country of El Salvador because he had a credible fear of persecution and torture there.
As The New Republicreported Tuesday, the police officer who formally accused Abrego Garcia of being a member of MS-13 was later suspended for disclosing confidential information about another case.
"All this raises more questions about the integrity of the process by which Abrego Garcia has been deemed a gang member, even as Trump and his minions have been extraordinarily cavalier in throwing around the MS-13 smear," wrote Greg Sargent.
Abrego Garcia is married to a U.S. citizen and the father of a five-year-old, and had been living and working in Maryland for almost 15 years when he was stopped by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents last month, sent to a detention center in Texas, and then expelled to El Salvador's Terrorism Confinement Center.
The Supreme Court ruled 9-0 last week that the Trump administration, which has said Abrego Garcia was expelled due to an "administrative error," is required to facilitate the man's return.
"This is an administration that has lied about Mr. Abrego Garcia," said Van Hollen on Monday. "The vice president of the United States tweeted out that he had a criminal record. That was a lie. They're just lying. They've gotten caught lying, they don't want to admit it, and they have an obligation to bring him home."
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt doubled down on claims that Abrego Garcia "is a foreign terrorist and an MS-13 gang member" on Tuesday and said that if he is returned to the U.S., the administration will ultimately deport him back to El Salvador.
On Monday, Reps. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.), Maxwell Alejandro Frost (D-Fl.), and Yassamin Ansari (D-Ariz.) indicated that they would join Van Hollen on his trip to El Salvador. Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) is also planning to travel to the country, Axiosreported Tuesday.
"We are in a constitutional crisis," said Garcia. "The president is illegally sending people to foreign prisons. He's defying a unanimous Supreme Court decision. Congress cannot be business as usual. We need to go to El Salvador and demand the release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia."
Georgia state Rep. Ruwa Romman (D-97) was among those applauding Van Hollen's plan, and said that "a massive congressional delegation should join him with international human rights lawyers."
The Trump administration said Tuesday in its daily status update on Abrego Garcia, required by U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis, that it was "prepared to facilitate Abrego Garcia's presence in the United States in accordance with those processes if he presents at a port of entry"—but continued to claim it cannot force Bukele, who has a $6 million deal with the White House to detain suspected gang members expelled from the U.S., to release him.
Progressive commentator Hasan Piker said Van Hollen's planned trip was "absolutely the right thing to do."
"More Democrats should do things like this," he said. "Other senators should also join him."
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Ready to Punish the Poor in Their Districts, 7 Out of 10 GOP Lawmakers Set to Benefit From Trump Tax Scam
"Put simply: at a time when costs continue to rise for everyday Americans, this tax day, Congressional Republicans aren't focused on making their constituents' lives better," said one watchdog.
Apr 15, 2025
To honor Tax Day, a watchdog group is highlighting research showing how 70% of congressional Republicans may see personal financial benefit from the party's tax plan, now making its way through Congress, which would likely be paid for in part by deep cuts to Medicaid and through cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
According to Accountable.US, a progressive research and advocacy group, "270,000 households in many of the lowest-income Republican congressional districts could lose SNAP benefits while their representatives potentially save millions."
"While millions prepare their returns, the Trump administration and their lackeys in Congress are eagerly seeking a way to rob their constituents of vital services and pay for tax giveaways to themselves, their billionaire donors, and mega corporations," Tony Carrk, the group's executive director, said in a statement Tuesday.
"Put simply: at a time when costs continue to rise for everyday Americans, this tax day, Congressional Republicans aren't focused on making their constituents' lives better; instead they’re focused on gutting programs Americans rely on and cutting taxes for those doing just fine."
As part of its spending and tax plan, Republicans are aiming to extend expiring provisions of Trump's 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, a move that would disproportionately benefit the wealthy.
The provisions set to expire include a 20% deduction for "pass-through" businesses—whose owners report their share of profits as taxable income under the individual income tax—and the current estate tax exemption amount. If the estate tax TCJA exemption were to expire, the exemption would drop down to $7 million per individual, meaning more millionaires would be forced to pay federal estate tax.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D) also recently endorsed a full repeal of the estate tax, which is a tax applied to assets inherited by others when a wealthy person dies.
The pass-through deduction and estate tax are two benefits that are tilted toward the wealthy, according to Accountable.US, which focused on these two benefits when building their "Cash in Congress" database.
To compile the data, the group looked at lawmakers' most recent federal annual disclosure, and counted them within the 70% of lawmakers set to gain from the tax plan if they are set to benefit from the pass-through deduction.
Some lawmakers are also poised to benefit from keeping the TCJA estate tax exemption amount in place. According to Accountable.US, 18% of Republican House members and 28% of Senate Republicans are wealthy enough that they are currently subject to the estate tax. They would also pay even less in estate taxes if the provision was fully repealed.
Specifically, the 10 wealthiest House Republicans are threatening Medicaid access for 1.7 million of their own constituents, among the poorest in their districts, according to a statement from the group when they launched the database last week.
Accountable.US also highlights the situation of individual members who may benefit.
Rep. Diana Harshbarger (R-Tenn.) is a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which is tasked with coming up with spending cuts that will likely impact Medicaid. Per Accountable.US, she could benefit from the repeal of the estate tax after reporting over $40 million in assets on her most recent annual financial disclosure.
Meanwhile, according to the group, her district has a median household income that is over 20,000 below the U.S. median household income, and 14.3% of adults have income below the poverty line. Over 35,000 of the households she represents receive SNAP benefits.
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