Alejandro Mayorkas confirmed as Homeland Security secretary over GOP opposition
Alejandro Mayorkas was confirmed as President Biden’s secretary of Homeland Security on Tuesday, filling a key Cabinet post as Washington grapples with the fallout of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol and gears up for yet another political fight over immigration policy. “I question what purpose the delay served, especially when we’re at a heightened risk posture,” said Janet Napolitano, who served as Homeland Security secretary under President Obama. Advertisement“That cannot be accomplished with just the flick of a switch,” Mayorkas said in his Jan. 19 confirmation hearing before the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. AdvertisementAfter Mayorkas’s confirmation hearing before the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, Sen. Josh Hawley, (R-Mo.) AdvertisementTrump went through half a dozen picks to lead the Homeland Security department, only two of whom were nominated and confirmed by the Senate as secretary.
latimes.comAssault on Capitol ‘incited by the president,’ says former DHS secretary
Former Homeland Security secretary Janet Napolitano told CNBC's "The News with Shepard Smith" that the storming of the Capitol on Jan. 6 was "incited" by President Donald Trump, and criticized him for fueling the "Big Lie" that the Nov. 3 election was stolen from him. An internal Homeland Security report leaked in 2009 warned that right-wing extremism was on the rise and that it could lead to violence. The FBI is taking no chances and vetted the 25,000 National Guard troops who will be at the inauguration. Twelve National Guard members have since been removed from securing Biden's inauguration after the FBI vetting, according to a Pentagon spokesperson. Officials say two of the National Guard troops were flagged due to "inappropriate" comments and texts while the other ten were removed for what they're calling a "number of different reasons."
cnbc.comTrump thought courts were key to winning. Judges disagreed.
This has been true whether the judge has been appointed by a Democrat or a Republican, including those named by Trump himself. Even in the face of these losses in court, Trump has contended that, in fact, he won the election. And Trump tweeted in all caps, “I WON THE ELECTION, BIG.”While that is not the case, what is true is that Trump is rapidly running out of legal runway. Trump has appointed more than 150 federal court judges who have been confirmed by the Senate and pushed through three Supreme Court justices. Much like Trump, his lawyers try to blame the political leanings of the judge after their legal arguments are flayed.
Democrats win big in Arizona, now a former GOP stronghold
The outcome delighted Democrats and was sure to bring a reckoning for Republicans who have enjoyed decades of dominance in Arizona politics. In turning toward friendly territory for Democrats, Arizona is following a path blazed by its neighbors Colorado, New Mexico and Nevada. It’s also the Democrats’ brightest light among the Sun Belt states they tried to flip from the GOP this year. A decade of work organizing Latinos to vote helped Arizona Democrats outperform other states where Democrats came up short, Gallego said. President Bill Clinton won Arizona in his 1996 reelection bid.
A renewed surge of migration from Central America could pose early test for a President Biden
And as the crisis of migrant children caught officials flat-footed, Biden became the administration’s point man for managing it. For Biden, if he wins, a renewed crisis of children and families coming to the border could provide an early test. It’s criminal.”Former Obama administration officials in interviews similarly drew a distinction between what they called crisis management and Trump administration actions they described as intentionally cruel and punitive. AdvertisementBeyond the domestic political fights, the Obama administration also pursued a foreign policy strategy in which Biden took the lead. In 2019, before the Trump administration effectively and indefinitely closed the border, citing COVID-19, almost 474,000 family members and 76,000 unaccompanied children arrived.
latimes.comUniversity of California imposes pay freeze as losses mount
The University of California is imposing a system-wide freeze on salaries of its non-unionized employees due to enormous financial losses caused by the coronavirus pandemic, President Janet Napolitano said Monday. Napolitano is taking a 10% voluntary pay cut, as are the system's 10 chancellors, she said in a statement that was sent to faculty and staff systemwide. She said her office has initiated conversations with union leaders so they understand the seriousness of the financial situation. It estimates financial losses of nearly $1.2 billion from mid-March through April, and those losses are expected to increase in the months ahead, Napolitano said. Gavin Newsom announced last week a revised state budget for 2020-2021 that includes a 10% funding reduction for UC of $372 million.
cnbc.comUniversity of California president: Campuses must have contact tracing, testing plans to reopen
Testing and contact tracing programs for the coronavirus will be required for University of California campuses to reopen in the fall, system president Janet Napolitano told CNBC on Friday. "They will all have to meet minimum safety standards to reopen," Napolitano said on "The Exchange." "If they're going to reopen at all, they're going to need to have a testing plan, a contact tracing plan, a quarantine plan, things of that sort." The UC system has 10 campuses across the state; all serve undergraduates except UC San Francisco. The University of California system suffered financial losses in March of around $600 million, Napolitano said.
cnbc.comU. of California leaders support dropping use of SAT, ACT
Top leaders at the University of California say they support dropping the SAT and ACT exams from admission requirement. "They really contribute to the inequities of our system," Christ said at a forum on college admissions at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Education. Jessica Howell, vice president of research with the College Board, which owns the SAT, defended the use of standardized tests. Brown said he was not opposed to all standardized tests. He said he prefers standardized tests that measure students by how much they've mastered academic courses required for UC admission.
chicagotribune.comDACA timeline: The rise and resilience of the Dreamers program
Here are key developments that led to the Supreme Court case that will decide whether President Trump was justified in seeking to end the Obama-era program known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. Under the new program, Homeland Security said it would defer deportation action against qualified individuals for a period of two years, subject to renewal. During that time, individuals would be permitted to work legally. The 5th Circuit Court by a 2-1 vote affirmed the judges order in November, and the Supreme Court did the same based on a 4-4 vote in June 2016. Gen. Jeff Sessions, who asserted this open-ended circumvention of immigration laws was an unconstitutional exercise of authority by the Executive Branch. She also cited the rulings by the 5th Circuit and the Supreme Court. January 2018 U.S. District Judge William Alsup in San Francisco issued a nationwide order blocking the Trump administrations repeal of DACA.
latimes.comHow Obama's border enforcer Janet Napolitano is fighting Trump on immigration at the Supreme Court
Napolitano was instrumental in establishing the DACA program, which she signed into action in 2012 as DHS secretary. "I saw [DACA] first from the vantage point of being the Cabinet official responsible for immigration and immigration policy," Napolitano said. Napolitano said that when the Trump administration attempted to end the program in 2017, "we immediately went into high gear." In early 2013, ABC News analyzed Napolitano's record in the Obama administration under the headline: "Janet Napolitano: Immigration Hero or Villain?" It was under that cloud that Napolitano eventually built out a vast legal support system for young immigrants when she took over the university system.
cnbc.comTrump admin to move forward with DNA collection of migrants
CNN Video(CNN) - The Trump administration is moving forward with plans to implement collection of DNA from migrants who've been arrested, according to a Department of Homeland Security official. In 2010, then-Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano requested an exemption for DNA collection, including for migrants in custody who weren't facing criminal charges or those pending deportation proceedings, citing a lack of resources. The agency has since expanded DNA testing to three additional locations on the southern border. In the second -- Operation Double Helix 2.0 -- 79 of 522 families were determined to be fraudulent based on negative DNA results, to date. The Department of Homeland Security has repeatedly warned that children are being exploited by traffickers to skirt the nation's immigration laws.
Newsletter: Why are more women being killed?
As homicides overall in L.A. drop, more women are being killed often by intimate partners. TOP STORIESWhy Are More Women Being Killed? Last year, 114 women were killed in Los Angeles County, the highest number since the beginning of the decade, according to a Times analysis of coroner and law enforcement records. Nationally, the number of women killed is also rising. Now, Robert C. OBrien, the State Departments top hostage negotiator, is President Trumps unlikely selection to be his fourth national security advisor.
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