News Roundup: Here's What You Missed
By Justine Quintana
@_Justine_Q
1. Trump Administration Appeals Halt to Travel Ban:
A notice was filed at a Maryland federal distract court on Friday by Trump's administration stating an appeal would be made to halt Trump's revised travel ban. The case will go to the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, VA. The administration is asking the appeals court to reverse the lower court's decision. The lower court's decision on Thursday was a rule against Trumps effort to stop immigration from six-majority Muslim countries for 90 days.
- Source: The Los Angeles Times
2. U.S. Immigration Judges Being Reassigned to Speed up Deportations:
The US justice department is developing plans to temporarily reassign immigration judges around the country to 12 cities in order to speed up deportations of undocumented immigrants who have been charged with crimes. When and how many judges will be reassigned is still under review. The 12 cities are New York; Los Angeles; Miami; New Orleans; San Francisco; Baltimore, Bloomington, Minnesota; El Paso, Texas; Harlingen, Texas; Imperial, California; Omaha, Nebraska and Phoenix, Arizona. The cities were chosen based on their high populations of undocumented immigrants with criminal charges, officials said.
- Source: The Guardian
3. Protection Roll Backs For People in Default Student Loans:
The Education Department, under President Trump's administration, is ordering guarantee agencies that collect on defaulted debt to disregard a memo former President Barack Obama’s administration issued on the old bank-based federal lending program, known as the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Program. If a borrower entered a government’s loan rehabilitation program within 60 days of default, the memo forbade the agencies from charging fees for up to 16 percent of the principal and accrued interest owed on the loans. A two page letter titled, "Dear Colleague," from the Trump administration stated, “The department will not require compliance with the interpretations set forth” regarding a case against United Student Aid Funds by Bryana Bible in 2012. Bible took the company to court after being charged $4,547 in collection costs on a loan she defaulted on in 2012. Though she had signed a “rehabilitation agreement” with USA Funds to set a reduced payment schedule to resolve her debt, the company assessed the fees.
- Source: The Washington Post
4. Rising Number of Civilian Deaths After U.S. Drone Strikes in Syria:
A U.S. drone aircraft fired missiles and dropped a 500-pound bomb outside Aleppo on Friday assailing numerous civilians in a Mosque. The Pentagon claims the strike killed dozens of al-Qaida militants but local activists and a monitoring group reported that at least 46 people died and more were trapped under rubble. The strike occurred as the Trump administration makes plans to expand its troop presence in Syria and weeks after a U.S. operation against al-Qaida in Yemen left civilians dead. It also takes place as the White House considers lifting rules enacted by the Obama administration that sought to avoid civilian deaths.
- Source: Chicago Tribune
5. Trump's Budget Cuts Some Agencies to Their Lowest Levels in Decades:
Released on Thursday, President Trump's discretionary spending on government programs would be cut in order to pay for large increases in military spending. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) would take the largest hit reducing down to $5.7 billion in spending, its lowest amount since its creation in 1970. While many government programs would see significant cuts under Trumps proposed plan, programs such as Health and Human Services, Education and Transportation would see their largest cuts in nearly 20 years. Labor and Agriculture would also hit their lowest in 40 years. With these cuts, other programs would see some of their highest allocated spending. Namely, Veteran Affairs, reaching their highest spending of $78.9 billion in about 40 years. Defense would reach a record high in the last six years with an allocated spending of $638.3 billion. Homeland Security would also hit a five year record high of $51.5 billion.
- Source: The New York Times