Portland, Ore., Mayor Ted Wheeler seemed to shun responsibility for allowing Antifa to freely roam the streets and commit violence in the city, insisting he always orders the police to “enforce the law.” Wheeler,
who’s been in office since January 2017, has been under fire for the
rise of Antifa in his city, particularly after a June 29 protest that
led to the violent assault of conservative journalist Andy Ngo.
Portland, Ore., Mayor Ted Wheeler. (Facebook)
“The game plan we've been using up to this point is no longer effective,” Wheeler told Oregon's FOX 12 about the violence on the streets.
“The game plan we've been using up to this point is no longer effective.” — Ted Wheeler, Portland, Ore., mayor
Ngo
was seen being kicked and doused with a milkshake during a clash
between Antifa and members of the conservative group Proud Boys during
the protest. As a result of the attack, Ngo said he suffered a brain
hemorrhage. Portland Police Association President Daryl Turner
released a statement following the violent protest, blaming Wheeler for
lack of enforcement and saying the mayor must “remove the handcuffs from
our officers and let them stop the violence through strong and swift
enforcement action.” Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, meanwhile, called for
a federal investigation into Wheeler and his actions that may have
allowed “domestic terrorists” to attack on Americans on the streets. But
Wheeler, who also serves as police commissioner as part of the mayor’s
office, denies he was responsible for lack of policing at the protest. “I
thought it was beneath a United States senator,” Wheeler told the
outlet. “The truth is, I wasn't even here. I wasn't even in the United
States. I was with my family in Ecuador on a wildlife tour.” “One
of the things I would like the public to know, is there is a unified
incident command center that's engaged during these demonstrations,” he
continued. “There is an incident commander, certainly the police chief.”
“The truth is, I wasn't even here. I wasn't even in the United States. I was with my family in Ecuador on a wildlife tour.” — Ted Wheeler
He added: “I have never made a tactical decision and I most certainly did not on June 29th.” Wheeler
also claims that he never told Portland police not to enforce certain
laws, on the contrary, he claims he explicitly asked to curb violence
during protests. “Enforce the law, don't let people commit acts of
violence, don't let people shut down regional transit,” Wheeler said
were among the directives. “Keep the city active and moving. Don't let
people get onto the highways and do anything stupid.”
Wednesday, during his testimony in front of the House Judiciary Committee, Robert Mueller made major headlines following this interaction with Rep. Ken Buck, a Colorado Republican: Buck: "Could you charge the president with a crime after he left office?" Mueller: "Yes" Buck:
"You believe that he committed -- you could charge the president of the
United States with obstruction of justice after he left office?" Mueller: "Yes" Mueller has been clear and consistent about two things since releasing his report. First, his investigation did not exonerate President Trump, despite his claims. Second,
he never considered prosecuting the president because of the Justice
Department’s controversial policy stating a sitting president cannot be
indicted. But, as Mueller testified on Wednesday, Trump could very well
be prosecuted once he leaves office. There’s no doubt that is something Trump and his legal advisers have had in mind all this time. The
longer Trump is in office, the better his chances are of staying out of
prison, and if he is reelected, he could very well go untouched. The
statute of limitations for federal obstruction of justice is five years
from the time the crime was committed. If President Trump is re-elected
in 2020, his second term would conclude well after the statute of
limitations has run out. If he loses, however, he could be in a world of
hurt. So, while every president is motivated to win reelection,
for Trump the stakes are higher. Maybe that’s why he is working so
hard, raising more than $100 million and peddling $15 straws with his
name on them. Trump knows what he did and knows he can only be held
accountable if he loses next year.
Imagine for a moment if this president was a Democrat, Republicans would be the first to call for investigations.
While
he tells us America’s future is on the line, maybe what he’s really
worried about is his own freedom – and he’s doing everything he can to
salvage it. For Trump, it has always been about looking out for
Number One. He’s ramping up his message of fear and hatred, telling
members of congress, whom the people elected, to go back to where they
came from (three out of four of them were born in America) and attacking
law enforcement including Mueller and the FBI, intelligence officials
and judges, the very people sworn to protect our citizenry and our
democracy. He’s behaving this way because he knows fear and
division drive his base, and he needs them more than ever because he has
lost moderate Democrats and the majority of independent voters. While
any potential remaining legal action will have to wait, Congress must
not. As Mueller said in the press conference he held in May, it is
Congress’ job to investigate and take action, if necessary, against a
sitting president. So, as much as Republican hacks will continue
to whine, kick, and scream, Congress must continue to investigate
Trump’s actions during the 2016 campaign. Imagine for a moment if this president was a Democrat, Republicans would be the first to call for investigations. Opening
an impeachment inquiry is the best way for the American people to get
the facts they need to decide for themselves whether to remove the
president from office (we know the Republican Senate will not) in 2020. Frankly,
the president and his allies in Congress should welcome any effort that
could potentially clear his name. But they oppose it because they know
they facts, and those facts are not in the president’s favor. I believe in the American people and, unlike our president, I believe in the American system of justice. The
2020 election will not only determine the future of our nation and
whether we want four more years of a failing reality show, the outcome
and the actions that follow will answer the question burning in the
minds of many Americans: Is the president of the United States above the
law?
Former Special Counsel Robert Mueller's
mythic profile -- built over a period of two years by Trump detractors
hoping his investigation and later his testimony would pave the way for
the president's removal from office -- took a hit Wednesday as the
veteran lawman was seen stumbling through questions and at times unclear
about the contents of his own report. Now, some of President
Trump’s biggest critics are turning their ire toward the legend himself,
panning his performance at this high-stakes forum, even though Mueller
repeatedly made clear he did not wish to testify in the first place. “Much
as I hate to say it, this morning’s hearing was a disaster,” Harvard
Law Professor Laurence Tribe tweeted, in reference to Mueller’s
testimony before the House Judiciary Committee. Tribe is an outspoken
critic of Trump who often calls for his impeachment and indictment. He
noted Mueller’s appearance failed to provide the made-for-TV moment that
Democrats could rally behind in their efforts to bring down the
president. “Far from breathing life into his damning report, the tired Robert Mueller sucked the life out of it.” Left-wing
documentarian Michael Moore had even harsher words about Mueller, and
all the “pundits and moderates and lame Dems” who thought he would
deliver. Democrats did get Mueller to make certain statements that
were clearly damaging to the president, including refuting Trump's
claim that he was exonerated by the investigation. But Mueller largely
was retreading ground already covered in the report. And his critical
comments were undermined by his stumbling in the face of Republican questioning, and confusion over key details. Several on the left readily acknowledged this was not the home run for which they hoped. CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin scored it as a win for President Trump. “Look at who’s winning now, it certainly seems like Donald Trump is winning between the two of them,” Toobin said Wednesday. NBC’s Chuck Todd noted that while Mueller did deliver some substance that benefitted Democrats, “on optics, this was a disaster.” Rep.
Al Green, D-Texas, who just a week earlier introduced a resolution to
impeach Trump, recognized that even though Mueller “met my
expectations,” others may have been disappointed. “Some persons
were hoping for a seminal moment. A ‘wow’ moment. It didn’t happen,”
Green said. Green tweeted Thursday morning that this was because the
report and Trump’s actions had been already been discussed “ad nauseum.” David Axelrod, former senior adviser to President Obama, was far more critical as the morning hearing drew to a close. “This is very, very painful,” Axelrod said Trump’s legal team reacted to the testimony by stating that this should be the end of the discussion. “The
American people understand that this issue is over. They also
understand that the case is closed,” attorney Jay Sekulow said in a
statement. Trump’s
other attorney Rudy Giuliani called the testimony "disastrous." He said
that with Mueller’s testimony out of the way, it is time to “move on”
to other issues surrounding the origin of the investigation and how it
was conducted. Republicans grilled Mueller over details of what led to
the probe, but the former special counsel refused to answer, citing
ongoing investigation of the matter. The Justice Department
Inspector General also is examining the FBI’s use of the Foreign
Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) to conduct surveillance of former
Trump campaign adviser Carter Page. A report is expected to be released
this summer. Attorney General Bill Barr also has Connecticut U.S.
Attorney John Durham investigating the origins of the investigation. Fox News' John Roberts and Ellison Barber contributed to this report.
LONDON (AP) — The Latest on Boris Johnson officially becoming Britain’s new prime minister (all times local): 2:35 p.m. Theresa May has left 10 Downing St. for the final time as prime minister and is heading for Buckingham Palace to resign. In
a formal handover of power, May will ask Queen Elizabeth II to invite
her successor Boris Johnson to form a government. Johnson will then
visit the palace, and leave as Britain’s new prime minister. May is stepping down after failing to secure lawmakers’ support for a Brexit deal and lead Britain out of the European Union. In
a final speech outside 10 Downing St. with husband Philip by her side,
May said it had been “the greatest honor” to serve as Britain’s prime
minister. And
she said “I hope that every young girl who has seen a woman prime
minister now knows for sure there are no limits to what they can
achieve.” ___ 2:30 p.m. Senior members of Prime
Minister Theresa May’s government, including her Treasury chief Philip
Hammond, are resigning just hours before Conservative Party leader Boris
Johnson succeeds her. The departures clear the way for Johnson to appoint a raft of fresh faces to his government. Justice Secretary David Gauke and International Development Secretary Rory Stewart have also resigned. The
three had previously announced they would rather leave rather than
serve Johnson, who wants to leave the European Union even if no
agreement is in place to ease the transition to a new relationship
between Britain and the bloc. He insists that the country will leave the
EU by Oct. 31 — “do or die.” Many lawmakers worry the shock of severing decades of frictionless trade would devastate the country’s economy. David
Lidington, effectively May’s deputy prime minister, also resigned,
saying it was “the right moment.” to go. He had not previously
pre-announced his departure. ___ 2 p.m. A Russian
Foreign Ministry official says no immediate changes in relations with
Britain are expected upon Boris Johnson becoming Britain’s new prime
minister. Andrei Kelin, head of the ministry’s European
cooperation department, said Wednesday that “I don’t think that
something will change in the near future, because Boris Johnson belongs
to the team that has spoiled these relations for quite a long time.” Moscow-London
relations have plummeted since the nerve agent poisoning of a Russian
former double agent and his daughter in the town of Salisbury last year.
Britain blames the poisoning on Russian military intelligence. ___ 1 p.m. Prime
Minister Theresa May says she’s glad her successor, Boris Johnson, is
committed to “delivering on the vote of the people in 2016” to leave the
European Union. May offered muted praise of the incoming leader
in her last Prime Minister’s Questions session in the House of Commons.
She said she was pleased to be handing power to another Conservative
leader. After Wednesday’s question period, May will travel to
Buckingham Palace and submit her resignation to Queen Elizabeth II.
Johnson, who won a contest to replace her as Conservative leader, will
become prime minister later in the day. May said she would “continue my duties in this House from the back benches” as an ordinary lawmaker. May
shook her head at a suggestion from Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn
that she join opposition attempts to stop the “reckless” Johnson, who
has vowed to take Britain out of the EU with or without a divorce deal. ___ 11:50 a.m. The
European Parliament is warning new Boris Johnson, who in a few hours is
set to become British prime minister, not to count on any renegotiation
of the Brexit deal that his predecessor Theresa May negotiated with the
EU. The legislature’s Brexit steering group said in a statement
that the statements made by Johnson during his campaign to lead the
Conservative Party “have greatly increased the risk of a disorderly exit
of the UK.” It adds that a no-deal exit would be “economically
very damaging, even if such damage would not be inflicted equally on
both parties.” The group, including the top Brexit legislators,
held talks in a conference call the day after Johnson won the race to
succeed May, who is due to quit as prime minister in the next couple of
hours. Johnson has said he would take the UK out of the EU on the Brexit departure date of Oct. 31 “come what may.” ___ 11:30 a.m. Incoming
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is assembling his top team, with a
key job set to go to a controversial figure from the country’s Brexit
referendum campaign. Johnson’s allies say Dominic Cummings,
director of the “Vote Leave” campaign in the 2016 referendum, will
become a senior adviser to the prime minister. Cummings has been
both praised and criticized for his work as the campaign’s lead
strategist. Lawmakers and electoral officials have investigated Vote
Leave’s links to the firm Cambridge Analytica, which harvested Facebook
users’ data to help political campaigns. Cummings — who was played
by Benedict Cumberbatch in the TV drama “Brexit: The Uncivil War” — was
found to be in contempt of Parliament earlier this year for refusing to
give evidence to a committee of lawmakers investigating “fake news.” ___ 8:50 a.m. Boris
Johnson is set to form a “cabinet for modern Britain” as he prepares to
become prime minister following his victory in an election to lead the
governing Conservatives. The incoming leader has just over three
months to make good on his promise to lead the U.K. out of the European
Union by Oct. 31. Johnson easily defeated Conservative rival
Jeremy Hunt, winning two-thirds of the votes of about 160,000 party
members across the U.K. He becomes prime minister once Queen Elizabeth
II formally asks him to form a government. He will replace Theresa
May, who announced her resignation last month after Parliament
repeatedly rejected the withdrawal agreement she struck with the
28-nation bloc. ___ For more on AP’s Brexit coverage, https://www.apnews.com/Brexit
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Some
are accusing Portland Mayor Ethan Strimling of sending mixed signals to
more than 200 African asylum seekers about their housing prospects. The
city is racing to find housing for more than 200 people who are living
at an emergency shelter at the Portland Expo before Aug. 15, when it
will close. There is not enough housing for all of them in Portland. So far, 38 families have been placed in housing in Portland and in communities as far away as Bath. But many newcomers want to stay in Portland, which is home to a Congolese community. Strimling
acknowledged telling some of the newcomers that they cannot be forced
to live where they don’t want to. But he also says he told them they
could be forced onto the streets.
WASHINGTON (AP) — An
immigration enforcement operation that President Donald Trump said was
part of an effort to deport “millions” of people from the United States
resulted in 35 arrests, officials said Tuesday. Trump billed the
operation targeting families as a major show of force as the number of
Central American families crossing the southern border has skyrocketed.
There are about 1 million people in the U.S. with final deportation
orders; the operation targeted 2,100. Of those arrested, 18 were
members of families and 17 were collateral apprehensions of people in
the country illegally who were encountered by U.S. Immigration and
Customs Enforcement officers. None of those arrested resulted in the
separation of family, officials said. The
effort was demonized by Democrats as a full-force drive to deport
families and trumpeted by Republicans as a necessary show of force to
prove there are consequences for people coming here illegally. But
career ICE officers described it as a routine operation, one expected to
net an average of about 10% to 20% of targets. A separate
nationwide enforcement operation targeting immigrants here illegally who
had criminal convictions or charges netted 899 arrests. And officers
handed out 3,282 notices of inspection to businesses that may be
employing people here illegally. Acting ICE director Matthew
Albence said the operations would be ongoing, stressing the importance
of enforcement. “Part of the way you stop people from coming is having a
consequence to the illegal activity when you do come,” he said. The
operation targeted families centered on those who had been ordered
deported by an immigration judge in 10 cities around the country who
were subjected to fast-track proceedings. It was canceled once after
media reports telegraphing when and where it would begin, though Trump
announced it would be postponed following a phone call with House
Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who urged him to do so. The second effort
began July 14 and again was met with media attention noting where and
when it was to start, including from Trump, who announced the date. Albence
conceded the number was lower than that of other operations. A similar
operation in August 2017 netted 650 arrests over four days, including 73
family members and 120 who entered illegally as children. There were
457 others encountered during this operation also arrested. Albence said Trump’s comments didn’t hurt the effort because it had already been the subject of media reports for weeks. But
the overall publicity caused problems for an operation that relies
largely on secrecy and surprise. Albence said the publicity made some
officers targets, and they had to be pulled off. Part of the
reason other, similar operations, were more successful is because they
were “done without a lot of fanfare and media attention,” Albence said.
“That certainly, from an operational perspective, is beneficial.” Another factor was weather; operations were suspended in New Orleans because of the hurricane there. And
immigrant rights activists nationwide had the rare advantage of knowing
when to expect increased immigration enforcement, and they pushed
“know-your-rights” campaigns hard. Any hint of ICE activity,
including false alarms, brought out dozens of activists to investigate
in several cities, including Houston, New York and Chicago. To inform
the public, they used hotlines, text networks, workshops and social
media and promoted a smartphone app that notifies family members in case
of an arrest. In Chicago, even city officials got involved. Two
city aldermen started “bike brigades,” patrolling immigrant-heavy
neighborhoods to look for ICE agents and warn others. Another, Alderman
Andre Vasquez, sought volunteers on Facebook to serve as “ICEbreakers.”
Over the weekend, it was standing-room only at his ward office as
volunteers walked the neighborhood handing out know-your-rights cards
and recruited businesses to be on the lookout. “We were seeing
concern and people starting to panic,” Vasquez said. “We want to live in
the kind of environment where we never have to worry about ICE and
raids.” Activists reported one clear success story in Nashville,
Tennessee, on Monday. Neighbors noticed ICE surveillance in the area and
helped a 12-year-old boy and man avoid arrest by calling others and
then linking arms around their van. ICE officers eventually called off
the operation to avoid escalation. Nashville showed what’s
possible in an organized community: Immigrant families can exercise
their rights and their neighbors can help them to defend their rights,
Lisa Sherman-Nikolaus, policy director at the Tennessee Immigrant &
Refugee Rights Coalition, said in an emailed statement. “The incredible
scene that unfolded shows how deeply rooted immigrants are in our
community.” Advocates also said many immigrants simply stayed home. During
the first weekend the raids were supposed to start, some
immigrant-heavy churches had noticeably lower attendance and attributed
the fear of stepped-up enforcement. Businesses in immigrant-heavy
neighborhoods, including in Chicago, Atlanta and Miami, also reported
very light traffic. Those arrested were awaiting deportation.
During the budget year 2018, about 256,086 people were deported, an
increase of 13%. The Obama administration deported 409,849 people in
2012′s budget year. On Monday, the administration announced it
would vastly extend the authority of immigration officers to deport
migrants without allowing them to appear before judges. Fast-track
deportations can apply to anyone in the country illegally for less than
two years. Previously, those deportations were largely limited to people
arrested almost immediately after crossing the Mexican border.
Advocates said they would sue. It was the second major immigration
shift in eight days. Last Monday, the administration effectively banned
asylum at the southern border by making anyone coming to the U.S. from a
third country ineligible, with a few exceptions. Lawsuits are pending. ___ Tareen reported from Chicago.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal
regulators have fined Facebook $5 billion for privacy violations and are
instituting new oversight and restrictions on its business. But they
are only holding CEO Mark Zuckerberg personally responsible in a limited
fashion. The fine is the largest the Federal Trade Commission has
levied on a tech company, though it won’t make much of a dent for a
company that had nearly $56 billion in revenue last year. As part
of the agency’s settlement with Facebook, Zuckerberg will have to
personally certify his company’s compliance with its privacy programs.
The FTC said that false certifications could expose him to civil or
criminal penalties. Some experts had thought the FTC might fine Zuckerberg directly or seriously limit his authority over the company. “The
magnitude of the $5 billion penalty and sweeping conduct relief are
unprecedented in the history of the FTC,” Joe Simons, the chairman of
the FTC, said in a statement. He added that the new restrictions are
designed “to change Facebook’s entire privacy culture to decrease the
likelihood of continued violations.” Facebook does not admit any wrongdoing as part of the settlement. Two of the five commissioners opposed the settlement and said they would have preferred litigation to seek tougher penalties. The
commission opened an investigation into Facebook last year after
revelations that data mining firm Cambridge Analytica had gathered
details on as many as 87 million Facebook users without their
permission. The agency said Wednesday that following its yearlong
investigation of the company, the Department of Justice will file a
complaint alleging that Facebook “repeatedly used deceptive disclosures
and settings to undermine users’ privacy preferences.” The FTC had
been examining whether that massive breakdown violated a settlement
that Facebook reached in 2012 after government regulators concluded the
company repeatedly broke its privacy promises to users. That settlement
had required that Facebook get user consent to share personal data in
ways that override their privacy settings. The FTC said Facebook’s
deceptive disclosures about privacy settings allowed it to share users’
personal information with third-party apps that their friends
downloaded but the users themselves did not give permissions to. Privacy
advocates have pushed for the FTC to limit how Facebook can track users
— something that would likely cut into its advertising revenue, which
relies on businesses being able to show users targeted ads based on
their interests and behavior. The FTC did not specify such restrictions
on Facebook. Three
Republican commissioners voted for the fine while two Democrats opposed
it, a clear sign that the restrictions on Facebook don’t go as far as
critics and privacy advocates had hoped. That wish list included
specific punishment for Zuckerberg, strict limits on what data Facebook
can collect and possibly even breaking off subsidiaries such as WhatsApp
and Instagram. “The proposed settlement does little to change the
business model or practices that led to the recidivism,” wrote
Commissioner Rohit Chopra in his dissenting statement. He noted that the
settlement imposes “no meaningful changes” to the company’s structure
or business model. “Nor does it include any restrictions on the
company’s mass surveillance or advertising tactics,” he wrote The
fine is well above the agency’s previous record for privacy violations —
$22.5 million — which it dealt to Google in 2012 for bypassing the
privacy controls in Apple’s Safari browser. There have been even larger
fines against non-tech companies, including a $14.7 billion penalty
against Volkswagen to settle allegations of cheating on emissions tests
and deceiving customers. Equifax will pay at least $700 million
to settle lawsuits and investigations over a 2017 data breach; the FTC
was one of the parties. The money will likely go to the U.S. Treasury. The
FTC’s new 20-year settlement with Facebook establishes an “independent
privacy committee” of Facebook directors. The committee’s members must
be independent, will be appointed by an independent nominating committee
and can only be fired by a “supermajority” of Facebook’s board of
directors. The idea is to remove “unfettered control” by Zuckerberg, the
FTC said. Since the Cambridge Analytica debacle erupted more than
a year ago, Facebook has vowed to do a better job corralling its users’
data. Nevertheless, other missteps have come up since then. In
December, for example, the Menlo Park, California, company acknowledged a
software flaw had exposed the photos of about 7 million users to a
wider audience than they had intended. It also acknowledged giving
big tech companies like Amazon and Yahoo extensive access to users’
personal data, in effect exempting them from its usual privacy rules.
And it collected call and text logs from phones running Google’s Android system in 2015. Amid all that, Zuckerberg and his chief lieutenant, Sheryl Sandberg, apologized repeatedly. In March, Zuckerberg unveiled a new, “privacy-focused” vision for the social network that emphasizes private messaging and groups based on users’ interests. But critics and privacy advocates are not convinced that either a fine or Facebook’s new model amounts to a substantial change. If
the company’s business practices don’t change as result of the FTC’s
action, “there is no benefit to consumers,” said Marc Rotenberg, the
president and executive director of the Washington-based nonprofit
Electronic Privacy Information Center. “The eight-year delay won’t be justified,” he said, referring to when Facebook first told the FTC it would do better. The
fine does not spell closure for Facebook, although the company’s
investors — and executives — have been eager to put it behind them.
Facebook is still under various investigations in the U.S. and elsewhere
in the world, including the European Union, Germany and Canada. There
are also broader antitrust concerns that have been the subject of congressional hearings, though it is too early to see if those will come to fruition. Matt
Stoller, a fellow at the Open Markets Institute, which has been
critical of Facebook, said the company should admit wrongdoing. “There
should be structural solutions to force competition into the social
networking market,” he added. “One of the angles for competition is
privacy. They will compete to make a safer space to retain their user
base.” __ Ortutay reported from San Francisco. Associated Press Writer Samantha Maldonado contributed to this story from San Francisco.
The Trump administration on Monday announced plans to extend the power immigration
officers have to deport migrants before they appear at court, a move
the White House said could mean less time for migrants in detention
while cases wind their way through the legal system. The American
Civil Liberties Union and American Immigration Council promised that
they would sue to block the policy that is expected to begin Tuesday. Fast-track
critics insist that the policy grants too much power to immigration
agents and U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials. The
announcement was the second major policy shift in eight days following
an unprecedented surge of families from Central America's Northern
Triangle of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. Royce Murray, the managing director of the American Immigration Council, told The New York Times
that the Trump administration is “throwing everything they have at
asylum seekers in an effort to turn everyone humanly possible away and
to deport as many people as possible." The fast-track deportations can apply to anyone in the country illegally for less than two years. Kevin McAleenan,
the acting Homeland Security secretary, portrayed the nationwide
extension of “expedited removal” authority as another Trump
administration effort to address an “ongoing crisis on the southern
border” by freeing up beds in detention facilities and reducing a
backlog of more than 900,000 cases in immigration courts. He said
Homeland Security officials with the new deportation power will deport
migrants in the country illegally more quickly than the Justice
Department’s immigration courts, where cases can take years to resolve. Omar
Jawdat, director of the ACLU's Immigrants' Rights Project, slammed the
plan as “unlawful.” He said under the plan, “immigrants who have lived
here for years would be deported with less due process than people get
in traffic court.” "Expedited removal" gives enforcement agencies
broad authority to deport people without allowing them to appear before
an immigration judge with limited exceptions, including if they express
fear of returning home and pass an initial screening interview for
asylum. McAleenan said 20,570 people arrested in the nation's
interior from October 2017 through September 2018 year had been in the
U.S. less than two years, which would make them eligible for fast-track
deportation under the new rule. The
average stay in immigration detention for people in fast-track removal
was 11.4 days from October 2017 through September 2018, compared to 51.5
days for people arrested in the nation's interior. The Associated Press contributed to this report
Portland, Ore., Mayor Ted Wheeler. (Facebook)
“The game plan we've been using up to this point is no longer effective,” Wheeler told Oregon's FOX 12 about the violence on the streets.
