WTF Just Happened Today

Friday, March 19, 2021

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1/ The House passed two immigration bills that would establish a path to citizenship for roughly 3.4 million undocumented immigrants. The American Dream and Promise Act, which passed 228 to 197, would create a path for citizenship for the approximately 2.5 million undocumented immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children, known as “Dreamers,” and others granted Temporary Protected Status for humanitarian reasons. The House also passed The Farm Workforce Modernization Act, which could create a path for more than 1 million undocumented farm workers to apply for legal status. The bills are narrower than the comprehensive immigration package introduced in February, which would have created a path to citizenship for most of the 11 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S. Neither bill, however, is likely to overcome the 60-vote threshold in the Senate. “Democrats [are] wasting time on a bill that could not be less timely or targeted to the issue at hand,” House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said. (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / CNBC / CNN / Bloomberg / ABC News / Wall Street Journal)

2/ More than 500 unaccompanied migrant children and teens have been held in jail-like detention centers for more than 10 days at the border. Under law, minors are allowed to be held for 72 hours in the Customs and Border Protection detention centers. (NPR)

3/ Biden urged Congress to “swiftly pass” the Covid-19 Hate Crimes Act to address the rise in discrimination and violence against Asian Americans following the mass shooting that killed eight people, including six Asian woman. “While we do not yet know the motive, as I said last week, we condemn in the strongest possible terms the ongoing crisis of gender-based and anti-Asian violence that has long plagued our nation,” Biden said in a statement. The measure would increase Justice Department oversight of coronavirus-related hate crimes, expedite the federal response to the rise of hate crimes, provide support to state and local governments to improve hate crimes reporting, and ensure that information on hate crimes is more accessible to Asian American communities. (CNBC / The Guardian / Washington Post / Axios)

4/ The CDC revised its physical distancing requirements for children in school, from 6 feet to 3 feet. Teachers ...

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