US judge blocks Trump immigration rule on public benefits
CHICAGO โ A federal judge in Chicago struck down a key immigration rule Monday that would deny green cards to immigrants who use food stamps or other public benefits, a blow to the Trump administration on the eve of the election. Among other things, Feinerman said the rule violates the Administrative Procedure Act, which makes federal agencies accountable to the public by outlining a detailed process for enacting regulations. Under the Trump administration policy, immigration officials could deny permanent residency to legal immigrants over their use of food stamps, Medicaid, housing vouchers or other public benefits. Immigrant rights advocates deemed it a โwealth test," while public health experts said it would mean poorer health outcomes and rising costs as low-income migrants chose between needed services and their bid to stay in the country legally. Fred Tsao, senior policy counsel for ICIRR, called the rule an โattackโ on legal immigration and criticized the way the Trump administration has instituted policies.
Voting nearly impossible for eligible voters behind bars
The advocacy organization released a report detailing voting access for jail inmates with Rainbow PUSH Coalition, a civil rights advocacy group formed by the Rev. The advocacy organization released a report detailing voting access for jail inmates with Rainbow PUSH Coalition, a civil rights advocacy group formed by the Rev. โThe way to avoid that is to not get arrested or get sentenced to jail.โEfforts to increase voting access for incarcerated people aren't new. A 1974 U.S. Supreme Court decision upheld the voting rights of some incarcerated people without government interference, though some lower courts have allowed more restrictive absentee voting deadlines for detainees in some states. In March, the Cook County Jail in Chicago, Illinois became one of the first in the nation to operate as a jail polling station.
Local health agencies struggle to ramp up virus tracking
In this Wednesday, May 13, 2020 photo, Meghan Peck works on contact tracing at the Florida Dept. They are often hundreds even thousands of people short of targets for their contact tracing programs. Until recently, there had been scant federal guidance on what contact tracing should look like, and there is still no coordinated federal strategy. It said the number of case investigators and contact tracers needed in each community may be large and will vary, in part due to caseloads. Under California's criteria for a broader reopening, counties should have 15 people trained in contact tracing for every 100,000 residents.