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Protesters holding a banner reading, "U.S. Immigration Policy Is A Crime" at a silent protest in January 2020. (Photo: Erik McGregor/LightRocket via Getty Images)
In 'Devastating' Ruling, 9th Circuit Upholds Trump's Termination of Humanitarian Protections for Nearly 300,000 Migrants
"This court decision is doubling down on the Trump administration's anti-immigrant policy agenda."
Sep 14, 2020
A federal appeals court on Monday upheld the Trump administration's effort to end humanitarian protections for hundreds of thousands of immigrants, paving the way for possible mass deportations of people who have lived in the country for years.
The Congressional Hispanic Caucus called the 2-1 decision (pdf) from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth District blocking a lower court's ruling "devastating."
\u201cThis is unspeakable and made only worse by the fact that they should have been given paths to citizenship decades ago but instead were given truncated TPS statuses that they had to pay to renew each year and which were open to being unilaterally cancelled, as Trump has done.\u201d— Andr\u00e9s Pertierra (@Andr\u00e9s Pertierra) 1600105713
At issue is Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for people from El Salvador, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Sudan. TPS designation allows for work permission and deportation protection for individuals whose home countries are experiencing extraordinary conditions including armed conflict or the fallout from natural disasters.
The Texas Tribunereported:
[Immigrants from the four countries] could be forced to leave behind U.S. citizen children if the ruling stands. Recipients from Nepal and Honduras could also be affected as a separate but similar case on their behalf was placed on hold pending the outcome of the case involving the other nationalities, according to Reuters.
The ruling would require Salvadorans to leave the country by Nov. 5, 2021... The deadline would be March 5, 2021 for recipients from the other five countries, organizers with the National TPS Alliance, advocacy group for the immigrants, said during a press call Monday.
"This government has failed me and the other 250,000 U.S. citizen children of TPS holders," said Crista Ramos, lead plaintiff in the case.
Immigrant rights groups denounced the ruling.
"This court decision is doubling down on the Trump administration's anti-immigrant policy agenda, leaving nearly 300,000 TPS holders vulnerable to family separation and mass deportation," said Peniel Ibe, policy engagement coordinator for Quaker organization American Friends Service Committee.
"Without Congressional action," warned Ibe, "this will lead to devastating moral and economic consequences not just for TPS holders but for their families, communities, and for the entire country."
Oscar Chacon, executive director of Alianza Americas, expressed outrage as well and accused the Trump administration of "ignoring the conditions in their countries of origin and the family, communal, and economic ties that TPS holders have built during years, even decades, of residing in the U.S." and being "motivated only by the white supremacist agenda."
TPS holders from the four countries "have been living in the U.S. for years, they have built families, working relationships, companies, and around 130,000 are essential workers on the front lines of the battle against Covid-19," Chacon said. He further warned that "the lives and futures of hundreds of thousands of TPS holders and their families, including their children who are U.S. citizens, are now in disarray."
According to Chacon, the ruling also provides more evidence people need to effect change come Election Day.
"We must vote for our families, for our communities, and for those who cannot do it," he said.
An Unconstitutional Rampage
Trump and Musk are on an unconstitutional rampage, aiming for virtually every corner of the federal government. These two right-wing billionaires are targeting nurses, scientists, teachers, daycare providers, judges, veterans, air traffic controllers, and nuclear safety inspectors. No one is safe. The food stamps program, Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid are next. It’s an unprecedented disaster and a five-alarm fire, but there will be a reckoning. The people did not vote for this. The American people do not want this dystopian hellscape that hides behind claims of “efficiency.” Still, in reality, it is all a giveaway to corporate interests and the libertarian dreams of far-right oligarchs like Musk. Common Dreams is playing a vital role by reporting day and night on this orgy of corruption and greed, as well as what everyday people can do to organize and fight back. As a people-powered nonprofit news outlet, we cover issues the corporate media never will, but we can only continue with our readers’ support. |
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A federal appeals court on Monday upheld the Trump administration's effort to end humanitarian protections for hundreds of thousands of immigrants, paving the way for possible mass deportations of people who have lived in the country for years.
The Congressional Hispanic Caucus called the 2-1 decision (pdf) from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth District blocking a lower court's ruling "devastating."
\u201cThis is unspeakable and made only worse by the fact that they should have been given paths to citizenship decades ago but instead were given truncated TPS statuses that they had to pay to renew each year and which were open to being unilaterally cancelled, as Trump has done.\u201d— Andr\u00e9s Pertierra (@Andr\u00e9s Pertierra) 1600105713
At issue is Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for people from El Salvador, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Sudan. TPS designation allows for work permission and deportation protection for individuals whose home countries are experiencing extraordinary conditions including armed conflict or the fallout from natural disasters.
The Texas Tribunereported:
[Immigrants from the four countries] could be forced to leave behind U.S. citizen children if the ruling stands. Recipients from Nepal and Honduras could also be affected as a separate but similar case on their behalf was placed on hold pending the outcome of the case involving the other nationalities, according to Reuters.
The ruling would require Salvadorans to leave the country by Nov. 5, 2021... The deadline would be March 5, 2021 for recipients from the other five countries, organizers with the National TPS Alliance, advocacy group for the immigrants, said during a press call Monday.
"This government has failed me and the other 250,000 U.S. citizen children of TPS holders," said Crista Ramos, lead plaintiff in the case.
Immigrant rights groups denounced the ruling.
"This court decision is doubling down on the Trump administration's anti-immigrant policy agenda, leaving nearly 300,000 TPS holders vulnerable to family separation and mass deportation," said Peniel Ibe, policy engagement coordinator for Quaker organization American Friends Service Committee.
"Without Congressional action," warned Ibe, "this will lead to devastating moral and economic consequences not just for TPS holders but for their families, communities, and for the entire country."
Oscar Chacon, executive director of Alianza Americas, expressed outrage as well and accused the Trump administration of "ignoring the conditions in their countries of origin and the family, communal, and economic ties that TPS holders have built during years, even decades, of residing in the U.S." and being "motivated only by the white supremacist agenda."
TPS holders from the four countries "have been living in the U.S. for years, they have built families, working relationships, companies, and around 130,000 are essential workers on the front lines of the battle against Covid-19," Chacon said. He further warned that "the lives and futures of hundreds of thousands of TPS holders and their families, including their children who are U.S. citizens, are now in disarray."
According to Chacon, the ruling also provides more evidence people need to effect change come Election Day.
"We must vote for our families, for our communities, and for those who cannot do it," he said.
A federal appeals court on Monday upheld the Trump administration's effort to end humanitarian protections for hundreds of thousands of immigrants, paving the way for possible mass deportations of people who have lived in the country for years.
The Congressional Hispanic Caucus called the 2-1 decision (pdf) from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth District blocking a lower court's ruling "devastating."
\u201cThis is unspeakable and made only worse by the fact that they should have been given paths to citizenship decades ago but instead were given truncated TPS statuses that they had to pay to renew each year and which were open to being unilaterally cancelled, as Trump has done.\u201d— Andr\u00e9s Pertierra (@Andr\u00e9s Pertierra) 1600105713
At issue is Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for people from El Salvador, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Sudan. TPS designation allows for work permission and deportation protection for individuals whose home countries are experiencing extraordinary conditions including armed conflict or the fallout from natural disasters.
The Texas Tribunereported:
[Immigrants from the four countries] could be forced to leave behind U.S. citizen children if the ruling stands. Recipients from Nepal and Honduras could also be affected as a separate but similar case on their behalf was placed on hold pending the outcome of the case involving the other nationalities, according to Reuters.
The ruling would require Salvadorans to leave the country by Nov. 5, 2021... The deadline would be March 5, 2021 for recipients from the other five countries, organizers with the National TPS Alliance, advocacy group for the immigrants, said during a press call Monday.
"This government has failed me and the other 250,000 U.S. citizen children of TPS holders," said Crista Ramos, lead plaintiff in the case.
Immigrant rights groups denounced the ruling.
"This court decision is doubling down on the Trump administration's anti-immigrant policy agenda, leaving nearly 300,000 TPS holders vulnerable to family separation and mass deportation," said Peniel Ibe, policy engagement coordinator for Quaker organization American Friends Service Committee.
"Without Congressional action," warned Ibe, "this will lead to devastating moral and economic consequences not just for TPS holders but for their families, communities, and for the entire country."
Oscar Chacon, executive director of Alianza Americas, expressed outrage as well and accused the Trump administration of "ignoring the conditions in their countries of origin and the family, communal, and economic ties that TPS holders have built during years, even decades, of residing in the U.S." and being "motivated only by the white supremacist agenda."
TPS holders from the four countries "have been living in the U.S. for years, they have built families, working relationships, companies, and around 130,000 are essential workers on the front lines of the battle against Covid-19," Chacon said. He further warned that "the lives and futures of hundreds of thousands of TPS holders and their families, including their children who are U.S. citizens, are now in disarray."
According to Chacon, the ruling also provides more evidence people need to effect change come Election Day.
"We must vote for our families, for our communities, and for those who cannot do it," he said.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.
LATEST NEWS
House GOP Approves 'Modern-Day Poll Tax' With Passage of Orwellian SAVE Act
"Congressional Republicans' anti-voting legislation is a power grab to silence the voices of American citizens—full stop," said one advocate.
Apr 10, 2025
The U.S. House's passage of a bill on Thursday that would require Americans to prove their citizenship with documentation when they register to vote was the Republican Party's response to the fact, said one progressive critic, that "every day more people are catching on to their big grift."
"H.R. 22 is how they plan to keep themselves in power," said Maurice Mitchell, national director of the Working Families Party, of the so-called Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act. "Not by making life easier for working people, but by making voting harder."
The bill, proposed by Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), would require all Americans to present a passport or an original copy of their birth certificate in person when they register to vote and update their voter registration—purporting to combat what Republicans have falsely claimed is a "problem that affects voters in nearly all 50 states": that of noncitizens voting in federal elections.
With noncitizens already barred from voting in federal elections, numerous analyses have found that very few ballots have ever been cast by people who aren't U.S. citizens. The Brennan Center for Justice found that noncitizens were suspected of casting just 30 votes out of 23.5 million in 2016—or 0.0001% of all votes cast.
But the Brennan Center was among many rights advocacy groups warning Thursday that more than 21 million Americans don't have easy access to their birth certificates or a passport, and could be disenfranchised by the SAVE Act.
"The House has just passed one of the worst pieces of voting legislation in American history," said Michael Waldman, the group's president and CEO. "The Senate must stop it. The SAVE Act would put voting out of reach for millions of American citizens. It should not become law."
According to Public Citizen, the SAVE Act has the potential to stop tens of millions of Americans from voting.
About 146 million citizens don't have a passport—nearly as many as the 153 million people who voted in the 2014 presidential election, Public Citizen noted.
The bill could also disenfranchise up to 69 million women and 4 million men who have changed their names after marrying, as they wouldn't be able to use their birth certificates showing their names at birth to prove their citizenship.
Voters in states including West Virginia, Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, and Oklahoma, where less than one-third of citizens have a valid passport, could be most impacted by the SAVE Act's requirements.
"The SAVE Act is an assault on a fundamental American freedom—our ability to vote," said Gilbert. "A set of eligible voters who were able to participate in past elections—some who have been registered for decades—will now be unable to cast their ballots."
Along with making voting harder for people in rural areas, naturalized citizens, low-income voters, Native Americans, first-time voters, and people of color—many of whom lack easy access to citizenship documents—the SAVE Act would end voter registration drives, upend online voter registration systems that are used in 42 states, and make it harder for voters to register by mail. States would also be required to establish programs to purge existing voter rolls.
President Donald Trump and the Republicans, said Mitchell, "want to weaken the opposition to their pro-billionaire agenda, even if that means taking away our freedom to vote. But we refuse to be silenced, and we will do everything in our power to stop their shameless power grab."
Four Democratic House members—Reps. Jared Golden (D-Maine), Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-Wash.), Henry Cuellar (D-Texas), and Ed Case (D-Hawaii)—joined the Republicans in supporting the legislation.
Common Cause denounced the four Democrats for their vote "to suppress the vote of millions of Americans."
Common Cause president and CEO Virginia Kase Solomón said the SAVE Act should be called "what it is: a modern-day poll tax."
"If this bill becomes law, millions of hardworking Americans will have to either shell out money getting the right papers to prove their citizenship or have no say in the next election for Congress and president," said Kase Solomón.
The point of the bill, she said, is "to make it so difficult to vote that many people will give up on voting all together."
In the Senate, Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) introduced a companion bill earlier this year. The GOP, which holds 53 Senate seats while the Democrats hold 47, would need Democrats to join them to overcome the 60-vote filibuster threshold in order to pass the bill.
"Every U.S. senator who cares about protecting our right to the ballot must vote down this poll tax in any form," said Kase Solomón. "Common Cause and our 1.5 million members will make sure every senator hears from the people that this bill is dead on arrival."
Tony Carrk, executive director of the government watchdog group Accountable.US, said the SAVE Act also "paves the way to toss out legal votes and undermine election results that [the Republicans] don't like."
"Congressional Republicans' anti-voting legislation is a power grab to silence the voices of American citizens—full stop," said Carrk. “Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and their allies in Congress are attacking voting by threatening Americans' ability to vote by mail, allowing Musk's [Department of Government Efficiency] to access sensitive personal information, and kneecapping states' ability to run free and fair elections."
"It should send a chill down the spine of every American," he said.
House GOP Approves Economic Attack on Poor to Fund 'Big Payout' for Billionaires
"Republicans want to give away trillions of dollars to the richest people in our country," said Rep. Rashida Tlaib, "and they want to pay for it by taking food away from hungry children and letting people die from a lack of healthcare coverage."
Apr 10, 2025
In a party-line vote, House Republicans on Thursday approved a budget blueprint that sets the stage for the GOP to pass another round of tax cuts for the rich, paid for in part by slashing Medicaid, federal nutrition assistance, and other critical programs.
The final vote was 216 to 214, with two Republicans—Reps. Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Victoria Spartz of Indiana—and every Democrat opposing the measure, which now must be converted into legislation.
The budget reconciliation process that Republicans are using for their sweeping bill means it can pass with a simple majority in both chambers of Congress.
"Republicans are ramming through a budget that includes $880 billion in cuts to Medicaid and at least $230 billion in cuts to food assistance to pay for tax breaks for billionaires," Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) said in a statement Thursday. "These are the largest Medicaid and food assistance cuts in American history."
“Make no mistake: Republicans want to give away trillions of dollars to the richest people in our country like Elon Musk, and they want to pay for it by taking food away from hungry children and letting people die from a lack of healthcare coverage," Tlaib continued. "We must raise our voices and defeat this dangerous Republican budget."
"In unifying behind this budget resolution, congressional Republicans are telling us they are serious about their agenda to rob everyday Americans in order to deliver a big payout to the ultra-wealthy in tax cuts."
Passage of the blueprint came hours after Republican congressional leaders and President Donald Trump managed to win the support of GOP holdouts concerned that the forthcoming legislative package won't reduce spending enough to offset the massive cost of fresh tax cuts, which would largely benefit the rich.
During a press conference Thursday following the vote, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) signaled that they are unified behind the goal of cutting at least $1.5 trillion in federal spending over the next decade—an objective that Trump has endorsed.
"We have a lot of United States senators who believe that is a minimum," Thune said of the $1.5 trillion figure.
Sharon Parrott, president of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, said in a statement that "in this budget framework, there is no way to cut $1.5 trillion in spending while protecting health coverage through Medicaid and food assistance through [the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program]."
"This budget architecture was terrible a couple of months ago," Parrott added. "It is a far worse plan at a moment when the president's tariffs, chaotically crafted and applied, have caused business uncertainty to soar and raised the risk of a recession, higher unemployment, and surging prices."
In a post on his social media site, Trump congratulated House Republicans for approving the measure and claimed it would deliver "the Largest Tax and Regulation Cuts ever even contemplated."
An analysis released last week by the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation estimated that renewing soon-to-expire provisions of the 2017 Trump-GOP tax law would cost $5.5 trillion over the next decade. Republican lawmakers have also called for an additional $1.5 trillion in tax cuts, which would push the overall cost of the tax package to $7 trillion.
David Kass, executive director of Americans for Tax Fairness, said in a statement Thursday that "the country is rapidly undergoing an intensifying economic crisis created by Trump and congressional Republicans, and the only legislative solution they've put forward is to double down on tax cuts for billionaires while eliminating healthcare access and food assistance for millions of Americans."
Lisa Gilbert, co-president of the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen, echoed that message, saying that "in unifying behind this budget resolution, congressional Republicans are telling us they are serious about their agenda to rob everyday Americans in order to deliver a big payout to the ultra-wealthy in tax cuts."
"As they now work to actually write the bill that they intend to push through via the reconciliation process, which will deplete funding for healthcare, nutrition, and other critical human needs in order to line the pockets of CEOs and billionaires, they should know we are also serious in our efforts to fight back," Gilbert added.
Under Trump, Egg Prices Smash Record for Third Straight Month
"The only egg prices Donald Trump is lowering," quipped the DNC chair, "is our nest eggs."
Apr 10, 2025
For the third straight month, U.S retail egg prices have hit a record high, despite falling wholesale prices, no bird flu outbreaks, and President Donald Trump's campaign promises—and recent misleading claims.
On Thursday, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' Consumer Price Index (CPI) reported the average retail cost of a dozen eggs rose from $5.90 in February to $6.23 last month.
Egg prices continue to increase despite bird flu outbreak slowing finance.yahoo.com/news/egg-pri...
[image or embed]
— Yahoo Finance (@yahoofinance.com) April 10, 2025 at 6:22 AM
Earlier this week, Trump claimed that "eggs are down 79%" due to his administration's work, a possible reference to the wholesale price, which does not reflect retail cost due to the role that profit-hungry industrial producers and grocery cartels play in inflating prices.
Trump also said that egg prices "are going down more," a statement that contradicts not only recent trends but also his own administration's Food Price Outlook, which forecasts a 57.6% increase in egg prices for 2025, with a prediction interval of 31.1%-91.5%.
Recent record egg prices have largely been driven by an avian flu epidemic that has forced farmers to cull over 166 million birds, most of them egg-laying hens. However, no farms are currently reporting any bird flu outbreaks.
On Tuesday, Cal-Maine Foods, the nation's largest egg producer, announced quarterly profits of $509 million, more than triple its gains from a year ago. The Mississippi-based company, which produces around 20% of U.S. eggs, also enjoyed a more than 600% increase in gross profits between fiscal years 2021-23, according to the consumer advocacy group Food & Water Watch (FWW).
Yet even as its profits soared, Cal-Maine still took $42 million in federal compensation for losses due to bird flu.
The top five egg producers own roughly half of all U.S. laying hens. The biggest of those corporations is Cal-Maine, which just announced quarterly profits of $509 million — more than 3x what it made a year ago. Corporate concentration + bird flu = a price-hiking free for all.
— Robert Reich (@rbreich.bsky.social) April 9, 2025 at 10:31 AM
Last month, the U.S. Justice Department's antitrust division launched an investigation of alleged price-fixing by the nation's largest egg producers, including Cal-Maine, which isn't even the largest recipient of avian flu-related government assistance. Versova, which operates farms in Iowa and Ohio, has been allotted more than $107 million in federal bird flu relief, The Washington Post reported Wednesday. Hillandale Farms, a Pennsylvania-based company sold last month to Global Eggs, received $53 million in avian flu-related subsidies.
"For those companies to be bailed out and then turn around and set exploitative prices, it just adds insult to injury for consumers," Thomas Gremillion, director of food policy at the Consumer Federation of America, told the Post. "Absolutely, it's unfair."
FWW research director Amanda Starbuck took aim at the corporate food system, saying Thursday that "the industry is proving itself effective at extracting enormous profits out of American consumers."
"We are all paying for it—at the store, with food shortages, and with the growing threat of the next pandemic," she continued.
"Restoring sanity to the grocery aisle will require immediate action to transform our food system," Starbuck added. "To lower egg prices, the Trump administration must take on the food monopolies, hasten and prioritize its investigation into corporate price fixing, and stop the spread of factory farms."
The fresh CPI figures weren't all bad news, as the index saw its first decline in five years, falling 0.1% mainly on the strength of lower oil prices. The 12-month increase in consumer prices also slowed from 2.8% to 2.4%.
However, the mildly positive CPI news was overshadowed by the economic uncertainty caused by Trump's mercurial global trade war, including a ramped-up 145% tariff on imports from China, one of the top U.S. trading partners, and ongoing stock market chaos.
"The only egg prices Donald Trump is lowering," Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin quipped earlier this week, "is our nest eggs."
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