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As federal investigators announced Tuesday that at least 13 senior Trump administration officials violated the Hatch Act--a key law restricting campaign activities by government employees--a leading ethics advocacy group responded by calling on Congress to pass the Protecting Our Democracy Act.
"There are significant enforcement challenges to enforcing the Hatch Act. Legislation like the Protecting Our Democracy Act would fix that."
In a 59-page report, the U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC) said the Trump administration exhibited a "willful disregard for the Hatch Act" that was "especially pernicious considering the timing of when many of these violations took place."
"The report outlines how the 13 officials used their official authority or influence to interfere with or affect the result of the 2020 presidential election," OSC said in a statement. "Taken together, the report concludes that the violations demonstrate both a willingness by some in the Trump administration to leverage the power of the executive branch to promote President [Donald] Trump's reelection and the limits of OSC's enforcement power."
Noah Bookbinder, president of the government watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility & Ethics in Washington (CREW), said in a statement Tuesday that "this report confirms that there was nothing less than a systematic co-opting of the powers of the federal government to keep Donald Trump in office. Senior Trump administration officials showed an open contempt for the law meant to protect the American people from the use of taxpayer resources and government power for partisan politics."
\u201cSenior Trump officials showed an open contempt for the law meant to protect the American people from the use of government power for partisan politics. That's why today's report finding multiple violations, following @CREWcrew complaints, was a good step.\nhttps://t.co/Dibg5CXuLs\u201d— Noah Bookbinder (@Noah Bookbinder) 1636489500
The 13 former Trump administration officials named in the OSC report are: Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette, senior presidential counselor Kellyanne Conway, White House Communications Director Alyssa Farah, U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman, Trump senior adviser Jared Kushner, White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany, White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, White House adviser Stephen Miller, White House Deputy Press Secretary Brian Morgenstern, National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, chief of staff to Vice President Mike Pence Marc Short, and Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf.
"In each of these instances, senior administration officials used their official authority or influence to campaign for President Trump," the report states. "Based upon the Trump administration's reaction to the violations, OSC concludes that the most logical inference is that the administration approved of these taxpayer-funded campaign activities."
Violations include Pompeo addressing the 2020 Republican National Convention live from Jerusalem, Wolf administering oaths to newly naturalized U.S. citizens in a broadcast during the convention, and Conway, Miller, and others promoting Trump's reelection during television appearances.
It was an especially rough day for McEnany and Miller, who were also served subpoenas Tuesday by a congressional committee investigating the deadly January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
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The OSC investigation also found that presidential adviser Ivanka Trump violated the Hatch Act by using her Twitter account "for substantial official government activity and also to promote numerous candidates for partisan political office."
"However," it added, "the lack of any regulations or examples addressing the use of social media accounts for political activity," and the fact that the former president's eldest daughter used her personal Twitter profile, kept her off the list of 13 violators.
The report lists "statutory amendment" as a possible way to overcome significant barriers to enforcement enumerated in the paper. Proponents argue the Protecting Our Democracy Act--a measure introduced by Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and backed by over 150 groups that would prevent future presidential abuses of power, restore checks and balances, and protect elections from foreign interference--would do just that.
"OSC notes that there are significant enforcement challenges to enforcing the Hatch Act," said Bookbinder. "Legislation like the Protecting Our Democracy Act would fix that. Congress must act now so that this never happens again."
Immigrant rights defenders celebrated Friday after a federal judge delivered yet another blow to the Trump administration's drawn-out effort to kill Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, an Obama-era program that protects certain undocumented residents who were brought to the United States as children from deportation.
Building on his November ruling that was similarly welcomed by right groups, U.S. District Judge Nicholas Garaufis of Brooklyn ordered (pdf) the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to post a public notice by Monday that it is accepting new applications for DACA, which enables Dreamers to legally live and work in the country.
Garaufis, a Clinton appointee, also reiterated a determination he made in his ruling last month: Chad Wolf was not legally serving as acting secretary of DHS when he issued a July memo restricting DACA to those already enrolled in the program and limiting renewals and work permits to just a year rather than two.
\u201cBREAKING in our #DACA case: fed. court orders Trump admin to restore DACA to original 2012 form\u2014re-opening it to 1st-time applicants, restoring work authorization & renewals to 2 yrs, & making travel on advance parole more widely available to recipients.\n\n\u00a1S\u00ed se pudo! #HomeisHere\u201d— Make the Road NY \ud83e\udd8b (@Make the Road NY \ud83e\udd8b) 1607120712
Wolf's memo had come after the U.S. Supreme Court decided in June that the Trump administration cannot end DACA, which has benefited about 800,000 young undocumented immigrants. According to advocates, Garaufis' order to fully restore the program could soon benefit hundreds of thousands of people across the country.
"This is a really big day for DACA recipients and immigrant young people," Karen Tumlin, director of the Justice Action Center, who litigated the class-action case, told the New York Times. "It opens the door for more than a million immigrant youth who have been unfairly denied their chance to apply for DACA."
The news elicited a flood of celebratory tweets from Dreamers, as some young undocumented immigrants are known, and advocacy groups:
\u201cHUGE NEWS!! Court decides #DACA program must return to its original form\u2014how it was before the Trump's dismantling of the program. \n\nShoutout to courageous immigrant youth, organizers & movement lawyers for this victory! I see you @MaketheRoadNY @NILC @WiracYls @UNITEDWEDREAM\u201d— Cristina Jim\u00e9nez (she/ella) (@Cristina Jim\u00e9nez (she/ella)) 1607125474
\u201cDACA is here to stay. Dreamers are here to stay.\u201d— ACLU (@ACLU) 1607126584
\u201cA judge has ruled in our favor and ordered the Trump administration to fully restore #DACA, including opening up the program to new applicants for the first time since 2017.\n \nMy office will always fight to protect immigrants and ensure DACA is #HereToStay.\u201d— NY AG James (@NY AG James) 1607124638
However, Dreamers "are not necessarily in the clear," the Washington Postreported Friday. "Attorneys general in Texas and other states have asked a federal judge to declare DACA unlawful and to provide for an orderly wind-down of it. A hearing in that case is scheduled for later this month."
Despite the ongoing right-wing attacks on DACA, Veronica Garcia, staff attorney at the Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC), also applauded the judge's order.
"The ruling is a huge victory for people who have been waiting to apply for DACA for the first time," she said in a statement. "Wolf's decision to suspend the program was just another attempt by the Trump administration to wield its extremely racist and anti-immigrant views and policies."
The ILRC previously put out a Blueprint for the Next Administration (pdf) that calls for fully restoring DACA. The document also urges the incoming administration to "review renewal applications that have been denied since 2017 and restore DACA for recipients that have been deported as a result of such denials."
President-elect Joe Biden, who served as vice president in the Obama administration, indicated after his defeat of President Donald Trump last month that he will appoint Alejandro Mayorkas as secretary of homeland security. The move was praised by immigrant rights advocates who noted that Mayorkas oversaw the creation and implementation of DACA.
The National Immigration Law Center (NILC) said in a series of tweets Friday that while the ruling was a "major victory for immigrant youth, led by immigrant youth," the group looks forward to "working with the incoming Biden administration to create a permanent solution for immigrant youth and communities."
\u201cThis is a day to celebrate, and we look forward to working with the incoming Biden administration to create a permanent solution for immigrant youth and communities.\u201d— National Immigration Law Center (@National Immigration Law Center) 1607119725
"As a result of this decision," the NILC said of Garaufis's ruling, "we encourage all eligible immigrant youth who hoped to file an initial #DACA application to consult with an immigration attorney to consider filing as soon as possible."
The four first-term progressive congresswomen collectively called the Squad led a letter Friday calling for independent international investigation of "recent, ongoing, and credible allegations of egregious human rights abuses by the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS), its components, and its private contractors."
"From the unwanted and unnecessary hysterectomies of migrant women, to the forced separation of children from their families, to the indefinite detention of immigrants in abhorrent conditions--the cruelty and callousness of the Department of Homeland Security under [President] Donald Trump knows no bounds," Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) said in a statement Friday.
"This administration has demonstrated time and again its utter disregard for the lives of our immigrant neighbors, while our institutions of government have done little to hold it accountable--that must change. It's time we had a truly independent, external, and impartial investigation into these alleged human rights abuses by DHS, and I am proud to partner with my sisters in service in leading this call," she added.
\u201c.@DHSgov under Donald Trump has demonstrated time and again its utter disregard for the lives of our immigrant neighbors. \n\nIt is time for the @UN and the @CIDH to conduct an external and independent investigation.\n\nProud to join my sisters in service in leading this call.\u201d— Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (@Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley) 1603483059
Pressley was joined in demanding a probe of the agency's actions under the president by fellow Squad members Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) as well as Reps. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), Veronica Escobar (D-Texas), Alan Lowenthal (D-Calif.), and Mary Gay Scanlon (D-Pa.).
The lawmakers sent identical, detailed letters (pdf) requesting investigations to United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet, the Organization of American States' Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, the U.N. Human Rights Council, and 14 independent experts that report to the council.
"All countries, regardless of size, power, or international standing must respect the human rights of all people and the United States is no exception," the letters state.
"Our government cannot be allowed to commit human rights atrocities or escape investigation, oversight, or criticism based on its powerful geopolitical position, as it so often has."
The letters come after the Los Angeles Timesreported late Thursday that "at least 19 women at a Georgia immigration facility are now alleging that a doctor performed, or pressured them to undergo, 'overly aggressive' or 'medically unnecessary' surgery without their consent, including procedures that affect their ability to have children."
Although the DHS inspector general already opened an investigation into the Irwin County Detention Center in Georgia after revelations from a whistleblower about medical practices at the facility, the lawmakers and supporters of their letters emphasized the need for independent reviews of those and other allegations.
\u201cHolding @DHSgov accountable for its long history of abuses is a human rights, reproductive justice, and public health imperative\u2014one that has been put on the backburner at the expense and detriment of our immigrant neighbors. #AbolishICE https://t.co/lsThQ8aQtq\u201d— Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (@Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib) 1603479450
"Holding the Department of Homeland Security accountable for its long history of abuses is a human rights, reproductive justice, and public health imperative--one that has been put on the backburner at the expense and detriment of our immigrant neighbors," declared Tlaib.
"That they have now been accused of literally removing immigrant women's wombs is perhaps the most egregious yet," she said. "As a mother, as a human being, I can no longer simply continue to call for our government to investigate itself. We've been down that road and it has resulted in no meaningful change, only impunity and additional atrocities."
Omar took direct aim at the president for forcibly separating families at the southern border--a widely condemned policy which, as a court filing from the ACLU revealed earlier this week, has led to at least 545 children remaining apart from parents, who haven't yet been located. The filing says about two-thirds of the parents are believed to have been deported to their countries of origin without their children.
"There can be no question now: The president of the United States oversaw massive human rights abuses within our own country, against children no less," Omar said. "This was child abuse on a massive scale. It is clear that the administration itself does not have the ability to hold itself accountable in a transparent or impartial matter."
\u201cTrump oversaw massive human rights abuses from child separation, forced hysterectomies of women, and unconscionable treatment of immigrant detainees.\n \nI\u2019m proud to join my sisters in service to call for an independent investigation into these atrocities.\u201d— Rep. Ilhan Omar (@Rep. Ilhan Omar) 1603483482
The letters are endorsed by 53 groups, including Project South and the Government Accountability Project, which represent the Georgia whistleblower. The Government Accountability Project also represents "eight other whistleblowers within the DHS immigration system whose disclosures about practices that endanger the lives of immigrants in detention helped spur this call for intervention by the United Nations," noted staff attorney and International Program deputy director Samantha Feinstein.
"Unfortunately their warnings not only failed to prompt accountability and reform, but the DHS and its contractors revealed their indifference at best, and willful disregard at worst, to the lives of immigrants in detention," Feinstein said. "We applaud the calls by members of Congress for the United Nations to investigate the human rights violations revealed by whistleblowers, whose disclosure[s] are essential to ensuring that fundamental human rights are enforced."