Judge Blocks Trump Administration Effort to Fund Immigration Services


A federal judge in San Francisco on Tuesday temporarily blocked a United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) rule that sought to better fund services for people seeking citizenship and asylum through an increase in application fees, citing that it would discriminate against low-income applicants.

The block comes after immigration rights groups filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration.

The final rule was put in the federal register in August, including an explanation of how it is in keeping with President Donald Trump’s efforts to analyze and adjust cost and benefits at out-of-control federal bureaucracies.

The rule stated, in part: 

USCIS conducted a comprehensive biennial fee review and determined that current fees do not recover the full cost of providing adjudication and naturalization services. Therefore, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is adjusting USCIS fees by a weighted average increase of 20 percent, adding new fees for certain immigration benefit requests, establishing multiple fees for nonimmigrant worker petitions, and limiting the number of beneficiaries for certain forms. 

The Wall Street Journal reported on the judge blocking the rule, which would have gone into effect this week:

Under the proposed fee increases, the cost of a citizenship application would have risen to $1,160 from $640, or more than 80%, and for the first time the U.S. would have charged a fee of $50 to file an asylum application. Most fee waivers for low-income immigrants would have been eliminated under the changes. A group of immigrant-advocacy organizations sued to stop the fee changes.

U.S. District Judge Jeffrey S. White of the Northern District of California issued a nationwide preliminary injunction, ruling that allowing the changes to go ahead while the lawsuit continues would irreparably harm immigrants who couldn’t afford the new fees.

“If it takes effect, it will prevent vulnerable and low-income applicants from applying for immigration benefits, block access to humanitarian protections, and will expose populations to further danger,” Judge White, a George W. Bush appointee, wrote.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the judge also blocked the rule, in part, because it was issued by Chad Wolf who is the acting secretary of Homeland Security, which violates law because his is not a confirmed secretary of the agency, the judge said.

The ruling means that fee increases are halted until the judge reaches a full ruling on the case.

USCIS said in a statement it “is reviewing the ruling on the fee rule and has no further comment at this time,” according to the Wall Street Journal. 

The news outlet also noted that increasing fees to keep up with inflation is not unusual, but immigration rights groups claim it is an attack on immigrants.

“When you increase fees so much and you eliminate fee waivers, you’re completely pricing out millions of people from accessing opportunities that Congress wanted them to have,” Melissa Rodgers, director of programs at the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, one of the plaintiffs in the case, said.

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Fact Check: Biden Falsely Claims the Pandemic Recovery Helps Only the Wealthy


Claim: Joe Biden said on Tuesday that the Trump administration’s efforts to soften the blow of the coronavirus pandemic and revive the economy had only benefited the wealthy and inflated the stock market.

Verdict: FALSE.

The stock market has recovered much faster than many expected after crashing in the early weeks of the pandemic—but so has the broader recovery. The unemployment rate has dropped much lower than many thought it would, from 14.4 percent to 8.4 percent. The economy has added tens of millions of jobs as states lifted lockdown orders.

Several of the administration’s programs bolstered Americans with low and middle incomes rather than the wealthy:

  • the economic impact payments handed out $1,200 to most Americans, with more going to bigger families, but was capped at around $100,000 of income;
  • federal government enhancements to unemployment benefits increased jobless payments by $600 per week, which allowed a huge share of Americans who had lost their jobs to receive more income than they had while working.
  • the Paycheck Protection Program lent hundreds of millions to small businesses, keeping millions of Americans employed even when the economy was largely shuttered; and
  • federal programs to pause student loan payments and stop foreclosures have helped millions avoid debt trouble during the crisis.

Because of the Trump administration’s relief programs, poverty declined even as the economy was ravaged by the pandemic

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James Woods Sums Up Presidential Debate In One Hilarious Tweet

On Wednesday night, after the first presidential debate between President Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden had come to its conclusion, actor James Woods summed up the debate in one hilarious tweet, indirectly referring to moderator Chris Wallace’s penchant during the second half of the debate for challenging President Trump while leaving Biden’s remarks unaddressed, a performance that left many people highly critical of Wallace.

Woods wrote, “President Trump crushed his opponent Chris Wallace head to head in the debate. There was also another fellow wandering around muttering to himself.”

Biden had moments when he did seem to be talking in a vacuum, such as when he insisted, “The party is me. Right now, I am the Democratic Party.” When Biden repeated, “I am the Democratic Party,” Trump wittily responded, “Not according to (Kamala) Harris.”

During the debate, Woods opined, “Chris Wallace is shamelessly biased. It’s a beautiful demonstration of fake news in action. I’m actually glad it’s happening, because you can see it for yourself.”

Woods added later, “Outnumbered and out gunned, Trump was an everyman tough guy who declared very clearly he wasn’t about to take any crap from a tired career political hack and his media gunsel. Imagine if Trump had been able to answer one question uninterrupted and Biden been forced to answer his.”

Wallace was criticized heavily after the debate for treating Trump heavy-handedly while treating Biden with kid gloves. As The Daily Wire reported:

One of the issues that Wallace was called out for the most was how he appeared to let Biden interrupt Trump but would jump in to interrupt Trump when Trump would talk over Biden.

Fox News host Brian Kilmeade even noted the discrepancy and called it out on social media, writing: “Why is @JoeBiden allowed to interrupt? @realDonaldTrump is not.”

Fox News contributor Andy McCarthy wrote: “I love Chris Wallace, but he should get out of the way. … Biden doesn’t support the Green New Deal. Oh, Wallace got that out of him? No, Trump did. Oh, well, did Wallace clarify what’s parts of Green New Deal Biden is against? No, needed to move on …”

Conservative Dana Loesch wrote on Twitter: “Never allow Chris Wallace to moderate another debate again. This was an absolute sh** show. The viewer wasn’t even a secondary concern.”

Conservative commentator Ann Coulter wrote: “Every time Trump is nailing Biden, Chris Wallace interrupts. ‘That’s the next topic!’”

Conservative commentator Allie Beth Stuckey tweeted: “I generally like Chris Wallace. This is a HARD debate to moderate. But it’s just true that this debate is very clearly two against one.”

Political strategist Chris Barron added: “Biden/Wallace won the debate. Don’t try to spin me with some bs. Fox News just handed the most important debate in history to the left. And they did it on purpose. If you have one set of rules you enforce it on all participants. Chris Wallace failed miserably.”

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Pompeo to Vatican: China Snuffs Out Religious Freedom on a ‘Horrifying Scale’

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo urged the Vatican on Wednesday to join the United States in denouncing violations of religious freedom in China, saying the Catholic Church should be at the forefront in the fight to insist on basic human rights there. Pompeo made the appeal at a conference on religious freedom organized by…

The post Pompeo to Vatican: China Snuffs Out Religious Freedom on a ‘Horrifying Scale’ appeared first on The Western Journal.

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Trump Speaks Out After Heated Debate: ‘Two on One Was Not Surprising, But Fun’

President Donald Trump called Tuesday night’s debate with Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden “fun” and continued to criticize Biden’s lack of support for law and order. In a series of tweets, Trump summed up the debate, saying moderator Chris Wallace of Fox News “had a tough night. Two on one was not surprising, but fun.…

The post Trump Speaks Out After Heated Debate: ‘Two on One Was Not Surprising, But Fun’ appeared first on The Western Journal.

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Video: Trump Earns Nobel Peace Prize Nomination from Group of Law Professors for ‘Extraordinary’ ‘Trump Doctrine’

It’s Trump’s third, and likely most convincing, nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize. STORY: http://w-j.co/s/e220c

The post Video: Trump Earns Nobel Peace Prize Nomination from Group of Law Professors for ‘Extraordinary’ ‘Trump Doctrine’ appeared first on The Western Journal.

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Woman Who Accused ‘People of Praise’ Group of Abuse Is a Hyperpartisan with History of Eye-Opening Lawsuits

Ever since it became evident that President Donald Trump was considering Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Amy Coney Barrett for the current Supreme Court vacancy, liberals have ruthlessly attacked a Catholic group that Barrett reportedly used to belong to called People of Praise. One former member of the group told Reuters that People of…

The post Woman Who Accused ‘People of Praise’ Group of Abuse Is a Hyperpartisan with History of Eye-Opening Lawsuits appeared first on The Western Journal.

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Calls For Joe Rogan To Moderate Next Debate Intensify After Chris Wallace’s Disastrous Performance

Calls For Joe Rogan To Moderate Next Debate Intensify After Chris Wallace’s Disastrous Performance

Tyler Durden

Wed, 09/30/2020 – 14:15

Authored by Paul Joseph Watson via Summit News,

Calls for podcaster Joe Rogan to host the next presidential debate are intensifying after the disastrous performance of moderator Chris Wallace.

Wallace was unable to control either candidate in Cleveland as Biden and Trump constantly interrupted each other throughout the night.

The Fox News host also displayed flagrant bias by abandoning his supposedly neutral role and becoming a third participant in the debate, interrupting Trump 5 times more than Biden.

Earlier this month, Rogan extended an invitation to both Trump and Biden for a 4 hour unedited debate. Trump almost immediately accepted, but the Biden campaign refused to even consider the offer.

Now we know why. Biden can only survive in a debate when the biased moderator is firmly on his side.

Twitter was flooded with calls for Rogan to step in and moderate the next debate.

Enthusiasm for a Trump-Biden showdown moderated by Rogan is also reflected in a Change.org petition which is well on its way to receiving 300,000 signatures.

A poll by Hill-HarrisX also found that 69% of respondents wanted to see Rogan moderate a presidential debate, with 31% opposing the idea.

However, since the entire debate process is firmly controlled by pro-Biden mainstream media networks in order to manipulate public perception, don’t expect them to relinquish power any time soon.

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