Trump orders asylum overhaul, including new fee for applicants and faster adjudications, amid 'severe' border crisis

President Trump called Monday night for a sweeping overhaul to an asylum system he has long said is rife with fraud -- including a new fee to process asylum applicants, and the capacity to rapidly adjudicate applicants' claims while also barring them from working in the U.S. in the meantime.
In a presidential memorandum, Trump specifically told Attorney General William Barr and acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan that the move was necessary to address a "crisis" at the border. In an article published earlier this month, The New York Times acknowledged that the humanitarian crisis of illegal immigration has hit a "breaking point."
Arrests along the southern border have skyrocketed in recent months, with border agents making more than 100,000 arrests or denials of entry in March, a 12-year high. Immigration courts that process asylum claims currently have a backlog of more than 800,000 cases, and asylum applicants are increasingly staying in the U.S. even after their claims for asylum have been denied.
“That emergency continues to grow increasingly severe,” Trump's memo read. “The extensive resources required to process and care for these individuals pulls U.S. Customs and Border Protection personnel away from securing our Nation’s borders.”
According to a White House fact sheet released Monday, on average, "out of every 100 aliens subject to expedited removal who claim a fear of persecution, only about 12 will ultimately be granted asylum."
And "around half of all aliens who make a credible fear claim and are subsequently placed in removal proceedings do not actually apply for asylum."

Honduran asylum seekers are taken into custody by U.S. Border Patrol agents in San Diego this past Demceber. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo, File)

Thought the vast majority of asylum applications are ultimately unsuccessful, they still take months and even years to fully process. Asylum law is intended to provide harbor only to refugees fleeing personal persecution based on a limited number of factors -- such as political belief or religion -- and does not protect individuals fleeing bad living conditions or poverty.
The Trump administration last year rolled back an Obama-era expansion of potential asylum justifications, which extended protections to those alleging domestic abuse or gang-related attacks back home. White House officials said at the time that those categories were prone to abuse and expanded asylum law beyond its original intent.
In his memorandum, Trump gave his deputies 90 days to propose regulations so that all asylum applications are adjudicated within 180 days, except for those representing exceptional circumstances.
The White House and DHS officials did not immediately respond to questions about how much applicants might be forced to pay in asylum fees, and it is unclear how many families fleeing poverty would be able to afford such a payment.
The memo says the price would not exceed the cost of processing applications, but officials did not immediately provide an estimate for what that might be.

A Central American migrant takes a nap in the shade under a freight train car, last week in Oaxaca State, Mexico. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)

Trump also wants to bar anyone who has entered or tried to enter the country illegally from receiving a provisional work permit and is calling on officials to immediately revoke work authorizations when individuals are denied asylum and ordered removed from the country.
Immigration officials say one reason asylum claims are booming is that migrants know they will be able to live and work in the U.S. while their cases play out -- and, in many cases, even after their claims have been rejected.
According to the White House, the number of "aliens who do not show up to court and are ordered removed in absentia has soared, with 17,200 removal orders issued in absentia in the first quarter of fiscal year (FY) 2019. ... If this pace continues, in absentia removal orders would more than triple the 2013 total."
For asylum cases originating in a credible fear claim, "in absentia removal orders are on pace to increase to 17,636 in FY 2019, around 20 times more than the total in FY 2010."
And since September 2018, "1 out of every 6 family unit cases filed on special expedited dockets at 10 immigration courts has ended with an in absentia removal order," the White House said.
Trump is also calling on DHS to reassign immigration officers and any other staff "to improve the integrity of adjudications of credible and reasonable fear claims, to strengthen the enforcement of the immigration laws, and to ensure compliance with the law by those aliens who have final orders of removal."
Fox News' Shannon Bream and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Trashy NY Times Cartoons

4 left-leaning states up for grabs in 2020, Trump campaign manager says

Brad Parscale, the campaign manager for President Trump’s 2020 campaign, said on Sunday that he believes states that normally vote Democrat could be flipped, according to recent data.
Parscale told CBS’ “Face the Nation” that New Hampshire, New Mexico, Nevada and Colorado could be up for grabs. He said the campaign also understands the importance of maintaining support in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Florida.
“In every single metric we’re looking at being bigger, better and badder than we were in 2016. But this time we’re not out there trying to prove we can do something. The president’s proved he has done it, and now we just have to deliver what he’s done,” he said.
CBS News pointed out that Hillary Clinton won New Mexico by over 8 points and Colorado by 5. The other states were closer.
There is no clear Democrat who will win the nomination, which could be a drawn-out drubbing for the likes of Sen. Bernie Sanders, Joe Biden and others.
Larry J. Sabato, the director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics and Kyle Konik, who manages the center’s office in Washington co-authored an op-ed in The Washington Post last week titled, “It’s Easy to See How Trump Can Win Reelecton.” The piece points out that Trump is not a shoo-in, but has a solid base and benefits from a strong economy.
“Credit the powers of incumbency and a strong economy, the state of which may matter more to Trump’s odds than nearly anything else,” they wrote. “Incumbency and the economy, among other matters, ended up being more than enough for Nixon, Reagan and Bush. Despite Trump’s unprecedented outlandishness, that same combination might work for him, too.”

AOC accuses Kellyanne Conway of trying to 'stoke suspicion' about her faith

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.  accused Kellyanne Conway Sunday of attempting to "stoke suspicion" regarding the freshman lawmaker's religion after the White House adviser questioned why she didn't comment on the Sri Lankan terrorist attacks on Easter Sunday.
In a back-and-forth exchange on Twitter, Ocasio-Cortez asked why Conway would note that she didn't tweet about the bombings, which left more than 250 people dead.
"Are you trying to imply that I am less Christian? What was the point of you bringing this up on national TV?" the lawmaker asked, alongside a jab about how she was visiting her grandmother in Puerto Rico, "which continues to suffer from the White House's incompetent disaster response."
Ocasio-Cortez called the Sri Lanka attack "horrifying," and called out Conway for "using this as an excuse to stoke suspicion around my Christianity + faith life."
"No one should be targeted for their religion," she tweeted. "If you’re so moved, let’s do more to welcome immigrants fleeing religious persecution."
Conway initially questioned the widespread use of the term "Easter Worshippers" among politicians who expressed their condolences, including former President Obama and Hillary Clinton. Ocasio-Cortez said, "Saying ‘Easter worshippers’ matters bc Easter is the holiest day of the year for Christians, & to be targeted on Easter highlights how heinous the attack was - just as saying yesterday’s #SanDiego shooting was on Passover.
In her response, Conway said it was "good" that Ocasio-Cortez condemned the attacks, as she "found it odd a prolific tweeter was silent" on the topic. The Trump confidante said that both women agree on the idea that places of worship should remain unharmed.
At least 253 people, several of whom were American citizens, were killed and more than 500 others were injured after a series of explosions struck three churches and three luxury hotels just outside of Sri Lanka's capital on Easter. The attacks were among the worst since the South Asian country’s 26-year civil war ended in 2009, according to local officials.

Chicago prosecutor Kim Foxx subpoenaed over Jussie Smollett case: report

Chicago’s top prosecutor, Kim Foxx, has been subpoenaed Friday over her handling of the Jussie Smollett case, according to The Chicago-Sun Times.
Foxx, Cook County’s state’s attorney, will have to appear in court after a retired appellate judge, Sheila O’Brien, filed a petition last week for a special prosecutor to probe the Smollett case, in which a 16-count indictment against the “Empire” actor was dropped last month.
Foxx’s top deputy, Joseph Magats, was also subpoenaed, and another document requested that Smollett appears at the hearing, the report said.
O’Brien requested Foxx, Magats, and Smollett produce original documents in the criminal case to assure the public “that they have not been altered or destroyed and will not be destroyed throughout this case,” the Sun-Times reports.
The petition for a special prosecutor claimed Foxx’s handling of the case was “plagued with irregularity.”
O’Brien argues that Foxx, who informally recused herself from the case due to contact she had with a relative of Smollett’s during the investigation, should have appointed a special prosecutor.
“Foxx’s conflict in this matter is beyond dispute,” O’Brien wrote, “instead, Foxx misled the public into believing that Smollett’s case was handled like any other prosecution and without influence.”
Smollett told police he was attacked on Jan. 29 around 2 a.m. as he was returning home from a sandwich shop in Chicago. He said two masked men shouted racial and anti-gay slurs, poured bleach on him, beat him and tied a rope around his neck. He claimed they shouted, “This is MAGA country” — a reference to President Trump’s “Make America Great Again” campaign slogan.
After an intense investigation, police said Smollett staged the entire incident to drum up publicity for his career.
Barnini Chakraborty contributed to this report.

New York Times apologizes again for 'offensive' Trump, Netanyahu cartoon that 'included anti-Semitic tropes'

The New York Times Opinion section issued a second apology Sunday over a cartoon of President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu which was called offensive because of "anti-Semitic tropes."
"We are deeply sorry for the publication of an anti-Semitic political cartoon last Thursday in the print edition of The New York Times that circulates outside of the United States, and we are committed to making sure nothing like this happens again," the opinion section tweeted Sunday.
"Such imagery is always dangerous, and at a time when anti-Semitism is on the rise worldwide, it's all the more unacceptable," continued the apology, which was widely shared on Twitter.
The new apology said that the decision to run the syndicated cartoon was made by a single editor working without adequate oversight.
The cartoon showed Trump wearing a pair of sunglasses and being led by a dog depicted as Netanyahu. The dog had a Star of David collar. The cartoon appeared in the paper’s opinion section next to a column penned by Thomas Friedman.
The political cartoon was criticized globally by numerous social media users, who said the Times' first statement was inadequate.
The original apology read, “A political cartoon in the international print edition of The New York Times on Thursday included anti-Semitic tropes, depicting the prime minister of Israel as a guide dog with a Star of David collar leading the president of the United States, shown wearing a skullcap. The image was offensive, and it was an error of judgment to publish it. It was provided by The New York Times News Service and Syndicate, which has since deleted it.”
In an op-ed published online Sunday evening, Times columnist Bret Stephens took his employer to task, writing that the cartoon "in another age, might have been published in the pages of Der Stürmer," a virulently anti-Semitic tabloid published during Germany's Nazi regime.
"The problem with the cartoon isn’t that its publication was a willful act of anti-Semitism. It wasn’t," Stephens wrote. "The problem is that its publication was an astonishing act of ignorance of anti-Semitism .... at a publication that is otherwise hyper-alert to nearly every conceivable expression of prejudice, from mansplaining to racial microaggressions to transphobia."
Stephens added that the Times owed Netanyahu an apology and should reflect on "how it came to publish that cartoon — and how its publication came, to many longtime readers, as a shock but not a surprise."

Jussie Smollett Cartoons

John Hickenlooper forgets what 'GDP' stands for: 'Gross demographic product'

Smoking to much weed ?

Former Colorado Governor and 2020 hopeful John Hickenlooper forgot what "GDP" - gross domestic product - stood for while he answered a question at a labor conference on Saturday.
"Our gross, whatever that stands for, demographic product," he told a woman at the "National Forum on Wages and Working People."
He was discussing child care and lamented how the U.S. should be able to spend less of its GDP on health care. "You know, I should know that. I can't even remember," he added, in reference to the term's meaning.
The event, organized by the Service Employees Union International and Center for American Progress, hosted many Democratic candidates and sought to "provide an opportunity for thought leaders to go beyond talking points and share concrete plans to rebalance our economy and democracy."
Hickenlooper's comments came just a day after the Commerce Department posted a GDP rate of 3.2 percent, something the president celebrated with a tweet on Friday.
"This is far above expectations or projections. Importantly, inflation VERY LOW. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!" he tweeted.
Before the 2020 election, Republicans have pointed to Trump's economic success while comparing him to the Democratic field of candidates. Along with low unemployment during his administration, GDP unexpectedly reached 4.1 percent in the second quarter of 2018.
Economic issues will likely be a large part of the 2020 election cycle as more progressive candidates like Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., propose large government programs like "Medicare-for-all." The Trump administration has resisted those types of initiatives and focused on encouraging economic growth through policies like tax cuts.
Hickenlooper consistently lagged behind his fellow 2020 candidates, receiving between 0 and 1 percent of support in multiple polls from April.