Administration Updates

New acting head of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)

Ken Cuccinelli is now the acting director of USCIS. USCIS is an agency in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that coordinates the U.S. immigration system. Trump forced out the prior head of USCIS, Francis Cissna, in his purge of DHS. Currently, every immigration agency within DHS is led by an acting head rather than Senate-approved nominee.

Cuccinelli is an immigration hard-liner who has compared immigration policy to “pest control.” He has made xenophobic, homophobic and sexist comments and has little experience in immigration policy. His confirmation faces tough odds in the Senate because many establishment Republicans, including Mitch McConnell, reportedly despise him.

House Oversight Committee holds Trump officials in contempt

The House Oversight Committee voted this month to hold Attorney General William Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with a subpoena. The committee subpoenaed both men for information on why they decided to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census.

In addition to refusing to comply with congressional subpoenas, the Trump Administration has used sweeping executive privilege to block the committee’s access to documents. The citizenship question could intimidate immigrant households from participating in the census. This could lead to massive undercounts, which depresses political power and federal funding in communities of color. The Supreme Court will rule on the issue very soon.

Immigrant Rights

Trump Administration announces cruel cuts to programs for unaccompanied migrant children

The Trump Administration announced a decision to end educational, recreational, and legal service programs for unaccompanied migrant children in federally-run detention centers. This decision likely violates a 1997 federal court settlement, the Flores settlement, that sets basic standards of care for children in custody, and was decried by human rights activists. Amnesty International USA researcher, Denise Bell, said it perfectly: “It’s bad enough that the Trump administration is trying to normalize the warehousing of children. It’s unconscionable that they would so blatantly try to strip them of their rights. Locking up children and then denying them legal aid, education, and even playtime is all part of this administration’s cruel efforts to dehumanize people who have come to the U.S. seeking safety.”

These program cuts come as we learn more about the inhumane conditions in immigration detention: 24 people have died in Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody and 6 children in U.S. custody have died under the Trump Administration’s watch. The Administration relies on an overcrowded concentration camp system, even using a former World War II internment camps to indefinitely detain hundreds of migrant children. There are reports that children in detention have grossly inadequate adult supervision, food, medical care, water, and basic sanitation such as diapers or clean clothes.

Trump uses threat of massive nationwide immigration raids to force asylum law changes

Trump threatened to tear apart immigrant communities through ICE raids in 10 major U.S. cities. Officials planned to target about 2,000 immigrant families, which would have meant forcibly separating children born in the U.S. from undocumented parents. On June 22, Trump announced on Twitter that he would delay those plans, but would allow the raids to begin in 2-week unless Democrats agree to change the country’s asylum laws. It is unconscionable for this Administration sow terror and uncertainty in immigrant communities while simultaneously using them as a political bargaining chip.

Federal judge refused to block funding for U.S.-Mexico border wall

In February 2019, Trump declared a national emergency on the Mexico border in order to build a wall using billions of dollars that Congress refused to allocate. This month a Trump-appointed federal judge dismissed House Democrats’ suit against the Trump Administration. The court did not get to the merits of the case – whether diverting the funds violates the U.S. Constitution, which gives Congress and not the President the power to appropriate federal funds. Rather, the court said that the House did not have the legal right to sue the Trump Administration. The House has appealed to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.

This ruling contrasts with another federal court, which temporarily blocked the Administration from allocating funds from other agencies, limiting wall construction in El Paso, Texas, and Yuma, Arizona, while the case proceeds through the courts. The Trump Administration appealed to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

The American Dream and Promise Act passed in the House

The American Dream and Promise Act, H.R.6, is an exciting bill that would create a path to permanent citizenship for 2.5 million immigrants who are currently undocumented. People who were brought to the U.S. as children — known as Dreamers — and immigrants that have or are eligible for humanitarian protections — Temporary Protected Status (TPS) or Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) — would eventually be able to apply for permanent legal status.

TPS recipients are largely from El Salvador, Honduras, or Haiti, and fled their home countries because of natural disasters or political unrest. DED recipients are Liberian immigrants who were unable to return home because of war.

The bill would also allow Dreamers, TPS holders, and DED holders who were deported under the Trump Administration to apply for discretionary relief to return home to the U.S. The bill now heads to the Republican-controlled Senate, where it faces long odds of passage.

LGBTQ Rights

Every Child Deserves a Family Act reintroduced in the House and Senate

The Every Child Deserves a Family Act, H.R.3114/S.1791, was re-introduced in the House and Senate this month. The bill would prohibit child welfare agencies receiving federal funds from discriminating against potential foster or adoptive families on the basis of religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or marital status.

It would also ban conversation therapy for children in the federal welfare system. Conversion therapy is a dangerous, stigmatizing practice – discredited by every mainstream medical and mental health organization – that attempts to change someone’s sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression through medical, psychological, or spiritual interventions.

The bill is more important now than ever as the Trump Administration paves the way for unchecked LGBTQ discrimination. They are reportedly considering repealing an Obama-era policy of withholding federal funds from foster or adoption agencies that refuse to work with LGBTQ couples. They have also used “religious freedom” as an excuse to violate allow discrimination, granting, for example, a waiver to a South Carolina foster care agency earlier this year that would turn away Jewish, Catholic, and same-sex couples.

Health Care Access

Trump Administration undermines scientific advances with fetal tissue research ban

The Trump administration announced that scientists at the National Institute of Health (NIH) will no longer be allowed to engage in research that uses donated fetal tissue from abortions. They also canceled a contract with the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF), which was using fetal tissue to find a cure for HIV.

The tissue is donated from people who have had elective abortions and would otherwise be thrown away. It has unique properties and is indispensable in studying a range of medical conditions, including Alzheimer’s and the Zika virus. No adequate alternatives currently exist. UCSF Chancellor, Sam Hawgood, responded that the ban will “undermine scientific discovery and the ability to find effective treatments for serious and life-threatening disease.”

For many, Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) will be available without out-of-pocket costs

The United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) issued a new recommendation that will expand PrEP access and affordability. The USPSTF is an independent panel of experts that makes recommendations – Grades A to D – about preventive services. Those recommendations matter! Thanks to the Affordable Care Act (ACA), most private health plans have to cover certain preventive services without any out-of-pocket costs, and anything that gets an “A” or “B” from the USPSTF is included on that list. PrEP is a once-daily medication that prevents an HIV-negative person from acquiring HIV. Now that it has an “A” grade for people “at high risk” of HIV, most private health plans must cover it completely for those folks.

So what does it mean to be at high risk? The USPSTF identifies certain criteria: being in a relationship with someone living with HIV; inconsistent condom usage with a partner who is at high risk of HIV acquisition; having a sexually transmitted infection within the past six months; or injecting drugs and sharing injection equipment.

Sexual and Reproductive Health, Rights, and Justice

Ninth Circuit says the domestic gag rule (DGR) can go into effect immediately

Multiple lower federal courts in California, Oregon, and Washington issued preliminary injunctions, which stopped the domestic gag rule from going into effect while it proceeded through the courts. However, on appeal to the Ninth Circuit, a panel of three Republican-appointed judges lifted these injunctions, meaning it will go into effect everywhere except Maryland while the lawsuits continue. (A federal court in Maryland issued its own statewide injunction and because it’s not in the Ninth Circuit, that one is still effective.)

The domestic gag rule is dangerous, unethical, and threatens access to birth control and other essential health care for 4 million people who obtain care through the federal family planning program, Title X. It blocks Title X providers from referring their patients to safe, legal abortion care and will kick Title X providers who provide or refer patients to abortion, like Planned Parenthood, off the Title X program. It will radically re-shape the federal family planning program, stripping providers of either 1) the ability to give their patients necessary information about abortion or 2) the federal funds they need to provide care to low-income patients. You can read more about the domestic gag rule in our new factsheet here.

House passes appropriations bills with Title X Protection and Global HER Act

The House of Representatives used Congress’ power of the purse to fight back against dangerous Trump Administration policies when it passed a spending package for financial year 2020. The Labor-HHS-Education title of the package would effectively repeal the domestic gag rule by making Title X funding contingent on the rule not being in place.

It would also include almost 40% increase in Title X funding and prevent the Trump Administration from enforcing a broad refusal rule that would allow almost any health care entity or provider to discriminate against patients based on religious or moral objections. The State-Foreign Operations title of the package would also eliminate the global gag rule, which was grossly expanded under the Trump Administration. For more information about the domestic and global gag rules, you can see PWN-USA’s latest factsheet here. Unfortunately, the bill included the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits federal funds from going to safe, legal abortion care.

Abortion in the States: The Bad and the Good

Beyond the domestic gag rule going into effect, which will devastate access to reproductive health care generally, there have been specific attacks on abortion rights this month. The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services refused to renew the license of the last remaining abortion clinic in the state. The clinic is open for now. But if it closes, Missouri will become the first state in the U.S. without a single abortion clinic in almost 5 decades.

Texas Governor, Greg Abbott, signed SB 22 into law, prohibiting cities and counties from doing any business with abortion facilities and affiliates. It has been called the “biggest threat to Planned Parenthood this season” because it means that Planned Parenthoods affiliates cannot partner with local governments – even if they don’t provide abortion services. Additionally, a Texas town co-opted language from the immigration rights movement and declared itself a “sanctuary city for the unborn.” The town banned abortion with limited exceptions within the city limits, but it was largely rhetorical as there are no abortion clinics in the town.

We have also seen a spate of states try to re-claim the narrative by guaranteeing the right for women and others who can get pregnant to access the care that they need. This month alone we’ve seen Illinois, Maine, New York City, Rhode Island, and Vermont pass policies to protect or advance access to abortion care. Nevada Governor, Steve Sisolak, signed the Trust Nevada Women Act, which removes long-standing criminal penalties for abortion and requirements for medical providers, into law on May 31. Earlier this year, New York passed the Reproductive Health Act to codify Roe and ensure access to safe, legal abortion in the state. California is getting close to passing a bill, SB 24, that would guarantee students in the public university system access to medication abortion.

Civil and Voting Rights

Democrats win in Virginia racial gerrymandering case

The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) dismissed a case about racial gerrymandering, ruling that the Virginia House Republicans did not have the legal right to challenge. This means that the lower court ruling that found racial bias in the state’s voting map and the re-districted electoral map drawn to address the gerrymandering will both remain in effect. This is a win for Democrats because the new districts are more favorable to Democrats.

House Judiciary Subcommittee held historic hearing on Reparations

The House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties held a hearing on H.R. 40, which calls for a 13-member commission to “study and develop reparation proposals for African-Americans,” including a formal apology by the U.S. government “for the perpetration of gross human rights violations and crimes against humanity on African slaves and their descendants.” The hearing was held on Juneteenth, a day to commemorate June 19, 1865, when Black men and women in Texas were informed slavery had ended. It is the first time that Congress has held a hearing on reparations in more than a decade.

State Updates

Alabama

State lawmakers enacted a law that would force some convicted of sex offense to undergo nonconsensual chemical castration as a condition for parole. Chemical castration uses drugs to reduce testosterone levels. Unlike surgical castration, which removes the testes, this process is reversible and does not prevent reproduction. It also does not guarantee that sexual urge will be eliminated. The law requires people convicted of certain sex offenses involving children under the age of 13 to be injected with hormone-blocking drugs until a judge – not a doctor – deem it no longer necessary. California, Florida, Louisiana, and Wisconsin all have similar laws. The ACLU of Alabama has raised concerns that the bill violates the Eight Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment by forcing people to alter their body chemistry as a condition for parole.

California

In the midst of the federal assault on immigrant communities, the state of California is going further than any other state to protect the rights and health of young adults who are undocumented. This month, California lawmakers passed a budget that includes a plan to expand the state Medicaid program, Medi-Cal, to all eligible 19- to 25-year-olds regardless of immigration status. 138,000 people could gain health care coverage under the plan!

This is a significant victory in the state with the largest population of undocumented immigrants in the U.S. However, it falls short of universal coverage that would ensure that all people, regardless of age or insurance status, have the health care coverage they need. The plan also includes an individual mandate, requiring all Californians to have health insurance or pay a penalty.  

New York

Governor Andrew Cuomo signed the Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act of 2019, S. 6458, into law, guaranteeing the “strongest tenant protections in history.” The law does a number of significant things, including:

• abolishing provisions that allowed landlords to 1) raise rent by 20% when someone moves out of a rent-stabilized apartment and 2) lift apartments out of rent-controlled or rent-stabilized status after the rent passes a certain threshold.