OPINION - Brooks and Capehart 4/1/2022

"Brooks and Capehart on Biden’s shifting immigration policy, the Jan. 6 investigation" PBS NewsHour 4/1/2022

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  New York Times columnist David Brooks and Washington Post columnist Jonathan Capehart join Judy Woodruff to discuss the week in politics, including President Biden's decision to tap the country's strategic petroleum reserve, a return to pre-pandemic border policies and the latest on the Jan. 6 investigation.

Judy Woodruff (NewsHour):  What you were just hearing about, that return to pre-pandemic border policies, President Biden's attempt to reduce pain at the pump, and the January 6 investigation all heating up.

To discuss another busy week, we turn to the analysis of Brooks and Capehart.  That is New York Times columnist David Brooks and Jonathan Capehart, associate editor for The Washington Post, new position.

Congratulations.

Jonathan Capehart (Washington Post):  Thank you, Judy.  Thank you.

Judy Woodruff:  So good to see both of you.  And there is a lot to talk about.

Let's start, David, with the report that we just heard Amna talking to a reporter about.  And that is the Biden administration rescinding this rule that was handed down under President Trump, the argument being that COVID — we're in a different place with COVID, this is the humane thing to do.  Is it the right thing to do?

David Brooks (New York Times):  Intellectually, yes.

I mean, it was — there seems to be a bipartisan agreement, Republicans and Democrats, saying the reason it was put in place for COVID reasons doesn't pertain anymore.  It's just not — it's not a health matter.  It's become an art of convenience to simplify what goes on at the border.

The question is what plan they have in place.  And we're at a rate now where there are two million encounters at the borders a year.  Like, two million times, U.S. officials are encountering immigrants or people are trying to get in.

And it's just flooding the system.  And there's a lot of skepticism that there's a system in place, if we not get rid of 42, that they will be able to have the hearings, do all the stuff we normally do with asylum seekers.

And so, as we just heard, it's just a gigantic political issue.  And in the bumper, that little quote there, that 21 percent of Americans say immigration is the highest, if you think about the dominant issues right now, inflation is number one, immigration is probably number two.  Probably education and crime are three or four.

These are all nightmare issues for Democrats right now.  And so Republicans put up this long fact sheet.  And I don't want to vouch for its veracity.  It's a partisan fact sheet.  But you see the ads writing themselves, chaos at the border, drugs coming in, record opioid deaths.

Republicans are going to go to town on this one.

Judy Woodruff:  So, Republicans against it, Jonathan.  Even some Democrats are saying they think it's the wrong thing.

Jonathan Capehart:  Right.  And I think the — what it points to is the lack of a comprehensive immigration overhaul.

And this is something that's vexed Republican presidents.  I remember when President George W.  Bush wanted to do something.  It's vexed Democratic presidents.  President Obama wanted to work with Congress.  And Congress gave him the stiff-arm.  And that's what pushed him to do DACA, after saying over and over again that he had no power to do anything about immigration.

This is a political problem for the President, for the White House, for Democrats.  In a normal, functioning Congress, the White House and the House and the Senate would be able to get in the room, get together, and come up with a solution.

But there's no political will on the part of Republicans.  And it's great that they put out what — you called it a fact sheet, but a fact sheet with no policy prescriptions.  A functioning party would say, Mr. President, you're in trouble, the country's in danger.  Here's what — here's our proposal.

I have yet to hear what the Republican proposal is, other than fearmongering.

David Brooks:  Build a wall.

(LAUGHTER)

Judy Woodruff:  Oh, yes, there's that.

(LAUGHTER)

(CROSSTALK)

David Brooks:  Yes.

(CROSSTALK)

Judy Woodruff:  But we just — yes, we just seem stuck on this issue.

David Brooks:  Yes.

Well, it's a complicated moral problem.  People are coming here not because their lives are great back home.  They're coming here because situations in a lot of Latin American countries are deteriorating.  And some of them are genuinely in horrific circumstances.  And one's heart leaps out to them.

And yet they're coming in such large numbers, it's probably beyond our capacity to absorb all the people who want to come.  And a lot of people are coming for economic opportunity.  I don't blame them.  My ancestors came for economic opportunity.  And they — I wish they would go through the regular means.

But it takes a morally complicated government or a policy or a collective mind to say, we're going to help the people we are capable of helping.  How many people are we capable of helping?  And how do we help them humanely?  And how — for those who can't, how do we say sorry, but how do we do it humanely?

And that kind of moral nuance is not something we have seen a lot of in American policymaking for a while.

Judy Woodruff:  We're not seeing that.

Jonathan Capehart:  No.

And it's made more complicated because the party opposite the President, instead of lending a hand, is hurling brickbats and not being part of the solution.  The only way we get to this nirvana you're talking about, David…

(LAUGHTER)

Jonathan Capehart:  … is if the Republican Party wanted to be a true negotiating partner wanting to get something done.

Judy Woodruff:  Well, another hot issue, I think it's fair to say, that surface this week, and it's something the president announced yesterday, David, and that's that he said, yes, the jobs numbers are looking good.  And we had more proof of that today.

But the administration is still very worried about inflation, very worried about the price of gas.  The president announced he's going to release 180 million barrels from what's called the Strategic Petroleum Reserve just to try to get gas prices down a little bit.

Is this — is this a good move at this moment?

David Brooks:  It's hard to know.

Presidents always do this.  They always release from the reserve, and it never works.  Now, in Biden's — to his credit, this release is way bigger than any other President has done.  And so they're trying to dump stuff on the market.  And they're saying that it may produce a 10, 15, 20 percent gain per gallon at the pump.

And so that would have some effects.  That is far from certain, because when we release from the reserve, the markets think, well, they're releasing now, but they're going to have to put back in the reserve.  And so the markets can think long term and think, well, that's not going to really reduce demand.

Second, we're not the only people producing oil, in this country.  OPEC could say, we want to keep prices up.  If they're releasing, we will just limit our supply for a little while.  And so there are plenty of other actors who have the chance to mess with our plans.

And so I remain, I guess I would say, guardedly skeptical…

(LAUGHTER)

David Brooks:  … that this is going to do — that this is going to do much for the people who are paying 60, 70 bucks to fill up their tank.

Judy Woodruff:  How do you size this up?

Jonathan Capehart:  Well, the key thing you said, David, is that markets think long term, but Presidents think in short — well, they try to think long term, but when presidents go to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, this is short-term thinking.

There is short-term pain that the President has to deal with.  And the reports I saw showed that this release would/could lead to 10 cents per gallon, up to 35 cents per gallon for consumers.  When you — when you are a consumer, and you're saving 10 cents, that adds up; 35 cents, that's huge.

And gas prices is — they are the one thing that consumers feel immediately.  And so, if you're a White House looking at tough economic news, and the American people are angry about inflation and everything, if you can give them something where they're saving in the short term, you will go with it.

But David is right.  The market does think long term and think, yes, they're releasing it, but they're going to have to buy it back.  So — but I think administrations always do this, but I think it's the right thing to do for their political calculus right now.

Judy Woodruff:  They're saying it's — excuse me.  They're saying it's for six months.  I looked at the calendar.  That's right about November, David.

David Brooks:  Yes.

(LAUGHTER)

Judy Woodruff:  Do you think — do you think this is going to matter in the elections this year?

David Brooks:  Oh, yes.  Oh, absolutely.

Judy Woodruff:  Hello.

David Brooks:  As Jonathan said, you look at the — you drive down the street, you see the gas prices.

And I was out in California, and it's like, whoa.

Jonathan Capehart:  Oh.

David Brooks:  And so it's definitely going to matter.

The — substantively, the better policy, in 2015, Barack Obama and Paul Ryan, the Republican House speaker, did a deal where they increased production, which the Republicans wanted, lightening regulations on producers, but then, in exchange, increased money for green energy, which the Democrats wanted.

And Joe Manchin saying, let's do that all over again.  And that sounds like a good idea.  But it probably won't help Joe Biden between now and November.

Judy Woodruff:  Yes.  That's the question.

Do you think it helps Democrats at all between…

Jonathan Capehart:  Which…

Judy Woodruff:  Between now and the midterms.

Jonathan Capehart:  David — what David was just talking about, it's long term.

Judy Woodruff:  Yes.

Jonathan Capehart:  So, in the short term, no, it's not going to help them.

But I do think the SPR, that will help.

Judy Woodruff:  The January 6 Committee, two developments this week, David.

One of them, there's this seven-and-a-half-hour gap in the phone records from the White House on January the 6th.  There appears to be a gap.  The committee's still figuring out what that's all about, whether that was deliberate where it was an accident.  We will see.

The other is that the members of the committee — I ended up talking to two of them this week, Adam Schiff and Zoe Lofgren, who are just more openly critical of the Justice Department for not picking this up and running with it and moving towards some kind of prosecution of people like Mark Meadows, the former White House Chief of Staff.

Zoe Lofgren said to me yesterday — what did she say?  What he [Trump] did was completely lawless, she said.

David Brooks:  Yes.

Well, first, on the gap, it sparked a bunch of conspiracies, reminded us all the Watergate, so we could all plug and play on that one.

Judy Woodruff:  Yes.

David Brooks:  But is he using a burner phone secretly?

And I think CNN seems to have the most plausible explanation, which is, when — the record-keeping in the Trump administration is not always meticulous, was 'not always meticulous' which I know was a shocker for everybody.  And — but, apparently, when he went into the Oval Office, he didn't use the White House phone system, and then it wasn't recorded.

That could be it.  They were just bad record-keepers.  It is weird that it happened to be at the crucial moment on January 6.  So I assume we will find out here.

To be honest, I trust Merrick Garland.  The political players on Capitol Hill are political players.  And they're going to go maximalist.  They have no incentive to be balanced.  Merrick Garland and the Justice Department have an incentive to be like prosecutors.  And my overall approach to this whole deal, there have been a lot of extremely questionable things that have been done.

But the Trump administration does us a favor by doing most of their questionable things out in the open.

(LAUGHTER)

David Brooks:  And I haven't seen much that would make me think that there's some hidden, gigantic scandal, like, there's some phone call somewhere where Donald Trump was saying, storm the Capitol.

If that call exists or that e-mail exists or that tweet exists, then we're in a whole new ball game.  But it's easy for people who want to delegitimize Donald Trump to get excited that they have got something and get a little overpoliticized about it.  So, right now, my trust would be of the Justice Department.

Judy Woodruff:  How do you read all this?

Jonathan Capehart:  Well, when it comes to the Attorney General, I think what Chairman Schiff and Congresswoman Lofgren, their upset with him over the contempt charges, I think, are — they're valid.

They have passed out of the House.  They're sitting at DOJ.  And no one knows what's happening with them in terms of prosecution.

Where I agree with David in terms of trust Merrick Garland is on the call from the — from Democrats and folks on the left for the DOJ to investigate Donald Trump.  And I think these are two separate things.  And when it comes to investigating the former President, I — it would be, I was about to say, insane if Merrick Garland telegraphed that this was happening before he had all the I's dotted and the T's crossed.

This has been — there are lots of former prosecutors out on television who keep saying the same thing you're saying.  Trust — they trust — they trust Merrick Garland.  But, at some point, that trust is going to erode.

But, right now, when it comes to the contempt charges, I say, Mr. Attorney General, what are you doing?  But when it comes to the overall issue of, should Donald Trump be investigated, I'm willing — I'm willing to wait, because I want DOJ, I want the attorney general to be as careful as possible, to make his case as bulletproof as possible, if there is one, so that it doesn't make things worse by falling apart.

Judy Woodruff:  Their focus right now seems to be Mark Meadows, but we will see.

Jonathan Capehart:  Yes.

Judy Woodruff:  We will see.

Jonathan Capehart, David Brooks, thank you both.

Jonathan Capehart:  Thanks, Judy.

AMERICAN IMMIGRATION - Trump-era Rule Ended

"Biden administration ends controversial Trump-era immigration rule" PBS NewsHour 4/1/2022

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SUMMARY:  The Biden administration announced Friday that it will be phasing out what's known as Title 42, a policy that prevented migrants from seeking asylum in the U.S. due to public health concerns amid the COVID-19 pandemic.  Washington Post immigration reporter Nick Miroff joins Amna Nawaz to discuss.

AT THE MOVIES - "Minari"

"Rarely portrayed in popular culture, ‘Minari’ follows story of a Korean American family" PBS NewsHour 3/15/2021

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SUMMARY:  A new film called “Minari” is an immigrant tale rarely portrayed.  It features a Korean family in rural Arkansas, and it's already received major recognition, including a Golden Globe Award.  Jeffrey Brown has the story of our arts and culture series, "CANVAS."

PRESIDENT BIDEN - Policies Update

"Biden looks to ramp up pandemic relief as Republicans press for smaller aid package" PBS NewsHour 2/1/2021

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SUMMARY:  Negotiations over new action to stimulate the economy are moving into higher gear Monday.  After releasing a $1.9 trillion aid plan last month, President Biden held a first meeting with Senate Republicans who are pushing an alternative plan.  White House correspondent Yamiche Alcindor reports.

 

 

"Biden rolls back Trump’s immigration policies with a raft of initiatives" PBS NewsHour 2/2/2021

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SUMMARY:  President Biden is out with a raft of initiatives Tuesday directed at the U.S. southern border, and the man who will manage immigration policies, Alejandro Mayorkas is joining his Cabinet after being confirmed by the U.S. Senate to serve as Secretary of Homeland Security.  Yamiche Alcindor reports.

 

 

"Biden’s economic adviser on pandemic relief: ‘We can’t afford to wait another few months’" PBS NewsHour 2/2/2021

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SUMMARY:  President Biden appears ready to continue the push for his $1.9 trillion pandemic relief plan a day after he met with Senate Republicans to discuss its size and scope.  Jared Bernstein, who was appointed to the White House Council of Economic Advisers, joins Judy Woodruff to discuss the Biden administration’s stance on the plan.

 

 

"How President Biden’s policy shifts are impacting immigrants" PBS NewsHour 2/2/2021

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SUMMARY:  President Biden signed a series of executive actions Tuesday undoing many of the Trump administration's signature immigration policies.  This follows orders he already signed that reverse other controversial Trump era immigration items, like reinstating the DACA program and stopping construction of the border wall.  We spoke to some of those who are immediately and directly impacted by the changes.

 

 

"Arizona community divided over border wall after Biden’s policy changes" PBS NewsHour 2/3/2021

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SUMMARY:  In Arizona, people are feeling the impact of President Biden's order to halt border wall construction.  While the wall's presence has already had a profound impact on border communities, its enduring legacy under a new President remains unclear.  Amna Nawaz reports.

 

 

"Bipartisan report urges the Biden administration to remain committed to Afghanistan" PBS NewsHour 2/1/2021

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SUMMARY:  One of the Biden administration's primary foreign policy challenges is how to end the United States' longest war.  A new bipartisan report urges the administration to remain committed to Afghanistan and ongoing peace talks.  Nick Schifrin reports.

 

 

"Congressional Democrats back blueprint for Biden’s relief plan" PBS NewsHour 2/5/2021

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SUMMARY:  President Biden's plans to pass a $1.9 trillion stimulus package picked up some momentum Friday as Democrats in Congress approved a basic blueprint.  While the measures don't have the force of law, lawmakers are expected to begin writing the details of a major package next week.  Yamiche Alcindor reports.

TRUMP ANTI-IMMIGRATION - Penalizing Legal Immigrants

So now not only is Trump going after people seeking to enter the United States, he's going after LEGAL immigrants.  So in Trump-World there is no benefit to doing things legally.

"Trump administration seeks to penalize immigrants for using public benefits" PBS NewsHour 8/12/2019

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SUMMARY:  Recent immigration debates have focused on illegal entry into the U.S.  But the Trump administration is issuing new rules to limit legal immigration, by penalizing green card seekers who use, or might eventually use, public benefits.  Yamiche Alcindor talks to the Bipartisan Policy Center's Theresa Cardinal Brown about the public charge concept and who will feel the effects of the rule change.

RACE IN AMERICA - Cummings vs Trump

Let me make it clear, TRUMI IS A RACIST.  He just does not recognize it, like so many others.

"Why Trump’s verbal assault on Cummings and Baltimore sounds familiar" PBS NewsHour 7/29/2019

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SUMMARY:  President Trump is verbally assaulting the city of Baltimore.  On Monday, civil rights activist Al Sharpton and Maryland Republicans Gov. Larry Hogan and former Lt. Gov. Michael Steele all slammed Trump’s attacks on Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md) and Baltimore, which he [Trump] called a “disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess.”  Lisa Desjardins reports on how Trump’s words are again stoking racial tensions.

The serial lier.....
"Trump says Cummings lied about conditions in migrant detention facilities.  Did he?" PBS NewsHour 7/29/2019

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SUMMARY:  President Trump’s recent verbal attacks on Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md) were sparked by the congressman’s criticism of migrant facilities on the U.S.-Mexico border.  The White House disputed Cummings’ characterizations.  So what do we actually know about what’s going on in these detention centers?  Judy Woodruff talks to the National Immigration Forum’s Ali Noorani about a “lack of transparency.”

"In Ohio, do Republican voters care about Trump’s remarks on race?" PBS NewsHour 8/2/2019

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SUMMARY:  President Trump prompted more controversy this week by insulting a lawmaker of color, Rep. Elijah Cummings, and his Maryland district.  Trump called Baltimore “filthy” and “infested,” terms he has used before to refer to urban areas with majority black populations.  Ahead of Trump's rally in southwestern Ohio, Yamiche Alcindor asked voters there what they think of the President’s rhetoric on race.

VENEZUELA - In Chaos

The real problems Trump needs to do something about to mitigate U.S. immigration.

"For Venezuelans fleeing chaos at home, Brazil offers temporary refuge — and uncertainty" PBS NewsHour 7/16/2019

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SUMMARY:  Over the past five years, Venezuela’s combination of political instability, economic crisis and humanitarian disaster has driven record numbers of people out of the country to seek refuge elsewhere.  The exodus is reshaping the entire continent of South America in unexpected ways.  Amna Nawaz reports from the border between Venezuela and Brazil, where she met families making the desperate journey.

"How Colombia’s foreign minister sees chaos in Venezuela, fragile peace at home" PBS NewsHour 7/16/2019

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SUMMARY:  It's been three years since a groundbreaking peace deal between the Colombian government and FARC rebels.  The agreement opened the door for land reform, political participation for ex-rebels and a crackdown on drug trafficking.  But most of those problems remain, amid a political transition and influx of Venezuelan refugees.  Judy Woodruff talks to foreign minister Carlos Holmes Trujillo.

TRUMP DIPLOMACY - Meeting With Hungarian Prime Minister

"Why Trump’s meeting Hungary’s Orban is a ‘bit controversial’" PBS NewsHour 5/13/2019

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SUMMARY:  President Trump welcomed controversial Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban to the White House Monday, breaking with recent presidents who shunned the right-wing nationalist.  Like Trump, Orban has made restricting immigration a cornerstone of his agenda.  William Brangham talks to Charles Kupchan of the Council on Foreign Relations and Georgetown University about the significance of the alliance.

William Brangham (NewsHour):  For people who have not been following Viktor Orban's career or really appreciate where he sits in the orbit of European politics, tell us a little bit more about him.

Charles Kupchan, Georgetown University:  Well, as your piece said, he starts off as a disheveled liberal post-communist progressive.

He has one bite at the apple as prime minister from '98 to 2002.  And then he comes back in 2010.  And he's been there ever since.  And he essentially tracks from the left to the right to the further right over the course of his political career, and, in many respects, is a person that's ahead of his time, in the sense that he became anti-immigrant, anti-Europe, close down the borders, take over the media, compromise the independence of the judiciary, well before it became mainstream.

You now see it happening in Poland, in Italy.  The far right is gaining ground in Germany.  It's a widespread phenomenon.  He was in many respects the person who blazed that path.

William Brangham:  Former Trump senior adviser Steve Bannon once referred to Viktor Orban as Trump before for Trump.  Is that an accurate characterization of him?

Charles Kupchan:  There's no question that there is an ideological affinity between Trump and Orban.

There is, I think, an effort to create what you might call an illiberal alliance, in which Trump sides with Orban, Salvini the head of the League in Italy, Kaczynski the head of what's called Law and Justice Party in Poland, Alternatives for Germany in Germany, the National Rally in France.

They're trying to create a political movement that pushes democratic politics to the right and in the anti-immigrant direction.  I don't think it's any accident that this meeting today occurred less than two weeks before votes for the European Parliament.

It's a bellwether election.  No question that the far right, the anti-E.U., the anti-immigrant forces will gain ground.  The question is, how much ground will they gain?  How much influence will they wield in the new [EU] Parliament?

SOUTH AFRICA - Living in Fear

"Why immigration is a focal issue in South African election" PBS NewsHour 5/6/2019

And the infection of xenophobic nationalism spreads.

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  In South Africa, voters will go to the polls Wednesday in an election that could present the strongest challenge to date for the ruling African National Congress.  A recent wave of xenophobic attacks has put the issue of immigration front and center, amid growing frustration with high rates of unemployment and poverty.  Special correspondent Fred de Sam Lazaro reports.

LOS ANGELES - Baby Mills

"Chinese birth tourism scheme busted" by Brittny Mejia and Joel Rubin, San Diego Union-Tribune 2/1/2019

NOTE:  This was copied from the e-newspaper, so no link.

Operation illegally brought hundreds of women to U.S.

A group of travel agents has been charged with running illicit “birth tourism” schemes across Southern California that allegedly brought hundreds of pregnant Chinese clients to the U.S. illegally so they could deliver their children on American soil, according to court records made public Thursday.

The charges are the culmination of a long-running investigation by agents from the Department of Homeland Security and the IRS into three outfits operating for years in Los Angeles, the Inland Empire region and Orange County that charged as much as $100,000 for their clandestine services — a price tag authorities say Chinese parents-to-be readily paid to make sure their children would be citizens of what one company’s brochures called the “most attractive nationality.”

“These cases allege a wide array of criminal schemes that sought to defeat our immigration laws — laws that welcome foreign visitors so long as they are truthful about their intentions when entering the country,” U.S. Attorney Nick Hanna said in a statement.  “Statements by the operators of these birthing houses show contempt for the United States, while they were luring clients with the power and prestige of U.S. citizenship for their children.”

Arrested Thursday morning were Dongyuan Li, 41, of Irvine, who was identified in court records as an executive at You Win USA Vacation Services in Irvine, as well as Michael Wei Yueh Liu, 53, of Rancho Cucamonga, and Jing Dong, 42, of Fontana [CA], who authorities said owned and operated a company called USA Happy Baby in San Bernardino.

The three face charges of conspiracy, immigration fraud, money laundering, identity theft and other crimes, according to indictments filed in U.S. District Court.

Li’s husband, along with her business partner, Chao Chen, and several others involved in the schemes also face charges, but are believed to be living in China, court records show.  Chen, Homeland Security officials told the Los Angeles Times, pleaded guilty to some crimes and agreed to cooperate with investigators as part of a plea deal, but then fled the country as he awaited sentencing.

Also indicted Thursday was Wen Rui Deng, 65, an American citizen officials accuse of running a Los Angeles-based agency named Star Baby Care, which authorities believe to have been the largest birth tourism operation in the U.S.  She, too, is in China, authorities said.

The indictments stem from a series of raids agents carried out in March 2015 on dozens of apartments used to house pregnant women and other locations linked to the birth tourism schemes.

Following the raids, several women and their husbands living in the apartments were ordered by a judge to remain in the country as material witnesses in the case.  Many of them fled back to China, however, leading to charges being filed against them and an Irvine attorney who helped them escape.

The investigation into the operations named in Thursday’s indictments began in 2013, when birth tourism operations were booming in Southern California and coming under increasing scrutiny by local officials and disgruntled residents.  Officials were tipped off by anonymous letters sent to a federal immigration office and the Irvine Police Department that described a man operating a birth tourism business out of a luxury apartment building in Irvine.

The Carlyle Apartments happened to be across the street from a Homeland Security Investigations field office.  From their windows, agents could see pregnant Asian women coming and going, HSI officials told the Times.

An undercover agent was dispatched to make contact with Chen, who was suspected of operating the business.  The agent told him a cousin in China wanted to come to the U.S. to have a baby, officials said.  Chen asked the agent for approximately $15,000 and instructed him to have his cousin call a number in China, according to the HSI officials.

A female HSI agent fluent in Mandarin called the number from a concealed number and, over several conversations, was coached on how to deceive U.S. immigration officials.  She was instructed to fabricate a job and the name of the place she went to school, information the agency employee later used to complete an application for a tourist visa to the United States on behalf of the woman.

“Everybody wants to come to the U.S.,” HSI agents recalled the employee saying on the phone.  “It’s crazy how many people I have to train, I’m overwhelmed.”

It is not known how many women were brought to the U.S. by the three agencies implicated in Thursday’s indictments.  On her website for Star Baby Care, Deng boasted of having orchestrated 8,000 U.S. births since opening her doors in 1999, according to court records.  Li and Chen told prospective clients they had successfully sneaked more than 500 pregnant women into the country, records show.

The investigation would later widen to include Star Baby Care and Happy Baby USA.  The three companies followed a similar strategy, instructing clients on how to lie on tourist visa applications and putting them up in one of the dozens of apartments each operation leased across the region.

Although childbirth can be a legitimate reason to travel to the U.S. if the traveler provides the correct paperwork and evidence they can pay for their medical care, lying about the purpose of a visit can lead to charges of visa fraud.  Customs and border protection agents at major ports of entry such as Los Angeles International Airport in recent years have tightened security for pregnant Chinese women and sometimes block them from entering the country.

Taiwanese, Korean, Turkish, and Russian mothers are also known to engage in birth tourism, but the practice has become particularly popular with the newly wealthy Chinese middle class.

Investigators found women paying the birth tourism agencies were told to come to the U.S. before their third trimester and to wear loose-fitting clothes in order to better conceal their pregnancies from immigration officials.  For example, in a voicemail message to a customer in 2014 intercepted by investigators, Li said: “The main thing is they look and see if you look obvious (pregnant); can they see it?  First thing is not to let them see it.  Second thing is don’t deny it if they can see it, and just say that you’re still here for vacation and just show them the return flight ticket,” according to Li’s indictment.

After giving birth, mothers typically stay in the U.S. at least long enough to observe the Chinese custom of “zuo yuezi,” a monthlong regimen that restricts a new mother’s diet and lifestyle in order to help her recover from pregnancy.

On a document titled “Strategies to Maximize the Chance of Entry” that investigators discovered while searching You Win USA’s offices, Li and Chen spelled out the particulars of their strategy.  They told women, for example, they would improve their chances of slipping past immigration officials by putting on their tourist visa applications that they intended to stay at the Trump International Hotel in Honolulu.

Liu and Dong, who ran USA Happy Baby, catered to wealthier clients that included Chinese government officials and charged as much as $100,000 for their services, authorities said.

The indictments also drew attention to the drain on resources at the hospitals where the women gave birth.  After paying tens of thousands of dollars to the agencies that brought them to the U.S., the mothers often claimed to be uninsured or poor to receive a reduced bill for childbirth services, the indictments said.

Despite the subterfuge the mothers employed to come to the country, their children nonetheless are citizens under U.S. law and officials said they do not plan to try to challenge their citizenship.

In recent years, the practice has prompted some lawmakers, who oppose children of unauthorized immigrants automatically becoming citizens, to propose repealing birthright citizenship, which is enshrined in the 14th Amendment of the Constitution.

President Donald Trump last year claimed erroneously that the United States is the “only country in the world” that automatically confers citizenship to anyone born in the country.  In fact, it is one of at least 30 countries that do so.

Mejia and Rubin write for the Los Angeles Times.  The New York Times contributed to this report.

COMMENT:  What's wrong here?  People with Chinese Passports and NOT having their passports confiscated or being held as material whiteness?!

AMERICAN POLITICS - Pictorial

Trump's Nightmare

Humor Times Marry Christmas

Trump Xenophobia

'Boarder' Protests

Gun Control Humor

OPINION - Shields and Brooks 11/2/2018

"Shields and Brooks on Trump’s focus on immigration, midterm closing arguments" PBS NewsHour 11/2/2018

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SUMMARY:  Syndicated columnist Mark Shields and New York Times columnist David Brooks join Judy Woodruff to discuss the uptick of extremism during this election season, as well as the role of immigration and racial politics in the 2018 midterm elections.

2018 MIDTERMS - Nevada Senate

"Immigration is on voters’ minds in key Nevada Senate race" PBS NewsHour 8/20/2018

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SUMMARY:  Many consider Nevada's Sen. Dean Heller the most vulnerable Republican in the Senate this fall.  President Trump has loomed large in the race, but public support for Trump there has been sliding, and the state went for the Democrat in the last three presidential elections.  Yamiche Alcindor talks with voters about why immigration is their number one issue heading into the midterm elections.

IMMIGRATION - The 'Dreamer' Program

"Senators begin to outline bipartisan ‘Dreamer’ plan as open debate begins" PBS NewsHour 2/14/2018

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SUMMARY:  While the Senate formally opened debate on the issue of immigration, it began the day where it left off on Monday, no clear bill or direction for protecting "Dreamers."  As President Trump pressed Congress to follow his four criteria for an immigration bill, a large bipartisan group of senators said they had agreed on a more narrow approach.  Lisa Desjardins reports.

"This ‘Dreamer’ and undefeated boxer finds peace in the ring in the face of uncertainty" PBS NewsHour 2/14/2018

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SUMMARY:  For DACA recipient Alexis Zazueta, the sport of boxing has been a calming force amid the uncertainty of his future.  The undefeated professional boxer was brought to Arizona at the age of 1 by his parents and found his passion for boxing in middle school.  Special correspondent Tyler Paley of Arizona PBS reports.

NEWSHOUR BOOKSHELF - "The Line Becomes a River"

"How this former Border Patrol agent learned to see through the eyes of those trying to cross" PBS NewsHour 2/12/2018

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SUMMARY:  In "The Line Becomes a River," Francisco Cantú describes his experience as a Border Patrol agent in the deserts of Arizona, Texas, and New Mexico.  Written as a collection of dispatches, Cantú shows how the job became a difficult balancing act between his sense of shared humanity and the demands of law enforcement.  The author joins Jeffrey Brown for a conversation near the border.

GERMANY - Crime Spike

"Crime spike in Germany puts pressure on immigration policy" PBS NewsHour 2/7/2018

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SUMMARY:  A brutal murder of a 15-year-old girl in Southern Germany has placed the country's open-door immigration policy under intense scrutiny.  In addition, a new government-sponsored study found that violent crime rose in one state by 10 percent in two years, with 92 percent of the increase attributed to young male migrants.  Special correspondent Malcolm Brabant reports on the political fallout.

TRUMP COUNTRY - Volusia County, Florida

"Meet the pro-gun, pro-immigrant sheriff bringing police reform to Trump country" PBS NewsHour 1/23/2018

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SUMMARY:  Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood is both pro-gun and pro-immigrant and he's been endorsed by both the NRA and the NAACP.  Special correspondent John Carlos Frey reports in collaboration with the Marshall Project on why Sheriff Chitwood's appeal often cuts across traditional political lines.

POLITICS - The Immigration Fight

"The key change that convinced Democrats to strike a shutdown deal" PBS NewsHour 1/22/2018

WARNING:  McConnell lies.  Don't believe 'promises.'

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SUMMARY:  Hours into the start of the work week, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer announced Democrats would vote for a three-week spending deal to end the government shutdown that began Saturday, while Majority Leader Mitch McConnell promised to allow Senate votes on immigration issues like DACA.  Yamiche Alcindor and Lisa Desjardins join Judy Woodruff to talk about the bipartisan short-term deal.

"Trump ‘willing to have a conversation about citizenship’ for DACA recipients, says White House official" PBS NewsHour 1/22/2018

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SUMMARY:  Immigration was one of the contentious issues that led Congress to its funding impasse and forced a government shutdown.  Now that the shutdown has been resolved, can lawmakers make progress on other contentious topics?  Judy Woodruff gets reactions to the compromise and each party’s priorities from Marc Short (White House Legislative Affairs Director), and Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md).

"Collins confident Senate can reach compromise on immigration" PBS NewsHour 1/23/2018

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SUMMARY:  Sen. Susan Collins (R-Ma), one of the lawmakers who helped strike a deal to end the shutdown, says the challenge of overcoming differences doesn’t mean it’s not worth trying to reach an immigration bill.  Collins joins Judy Woodruff to discuss those prospects, as well as news that Attorney General Jeff Sessions was interviewed by the special counsel’s office, and the GOP casting doubts about the FBI.

"Trump immigration proposal draws mixed reactions from both parties" PBS NewsHour 1/25/2018

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SUMMARY:  President Trump’s immigration proposal may offer a path to citizenship for more than 1.8 million DACA recipients, according to the White House.  The plan would also request $25 billion for border security and restrict immigration by eliminating the visa lottery program and limit family-based migration.  Yamiche Alcindor joins Judy Woodruff to discuss the details.

OPINION - Shields and Brooks 1/19/2018

"Shields and Brooks on government shutdown blame, Trump’s first year" PBS NewsHour 1/19/2018

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SUMMARY:  Syndicated columnist Mark Shields and New York Times columnist David Brooks join Judy Woodruff to discuss the week's news, including the government shutdown showdown and the battle over an immigration deal, and how it will stick with voters on Election Day, plus what voters are thinking at the first anniversary of President Trump taking office.

Judy Woodruff (NewsHour):  Now, on the eve of the anniversary of his first year in office, the President faces the possibility of a domestic crisis, a midnight deadline to keep the federal government open.  And with fears of a shutdown growing, both parties are pointing fingers at the other.

That brings us to the analysis of Shields and Brooks.  That’s syndicated columnist Mark Shields and New York Times columnist David Brooks.

Welcome, gentlemen, on this deadline [shutdown] night.

So, David, where is your finger pointing?

David Brooks, New York Times:  I really don’t know.  I’m embarrassed for my country.

We have gotten used to these shutdowns, but we really shouldn’t ever.  It’s all so stupid.  If we had like a Dwight Eisenhower or Franklin Roosevelt, they would just say, OK, let’s get in a room, we will figure it out, and they would act like grownups.

They would feel so demeaned to go through the rituals of condemnation.  And so we shouldn’t forget that elemental fact, it shouldn’t be like this.

The second thing, though — and the way I think this is actually a significant moment is that it does represent the parties defining themselves in the base, in the middle of a big demographic shift in the country.

This is all funneling down to a debate about immigration.  We used to have debates about the size of government or debates about war and peace, but immigration is now one of the central issues in American life, and it’s really at the core of this thing.  And the Republicans clearly feel, especially in red states, they can go to red states and say, you know, we wanted to keep government open for Americans, we wanted to keep health care for Americans, we wanted to keep the Army for Americans, and they wanted to hold it up for a bunch of illegal Americans.

So which party do you support?  And that’s what the Republicans are going to hang their hat on in a country that’s rapidly diversifying.

Judy Woodruff:  How do you size all this up?

Mark Shields, syndicated columnist:  Well, the only place I disagree with David is, the Republicans don’t say illegal Americans.  They say illegals.

[sarcasm] And like everybody else, like David and I, and I’m sure you, we made a decision at the age of 6 or 8 where we were going to live, where we were going to go to school, and what country we were going to — whose flag we were going to honor.

And, overwhelmingly, this is an issue on which Republicans are on the short side.  Americans of both parties, independents believe that people who have been brought here, had no decision in illegal entry, who’ve grown up here, worked, and contributed to the country are entitled to legal status.

The problem is, quite frankly, the Democrats have chosen this as the one issue to make a fight on, and which does echo not simply the cause itself, but the politics of 2016, and identity politics.

And of all the targets of opportunity that Donald Trump and these Republicans have given them, from knocking people off of health care, to attacking widows and orphans, they have chosen this one.

It is one, quite frankly, this issue, that the Democrats prevail on overwhelmingly across the country.  What Mitch McConnell and the Republicans in the Senate are playing right now is state-by-state politics.  It puts Democrats in red states, they think, on the defensive, whether it’s Joe Manchin in West Virginia, Joe Donnelly in Indiana.

Judy Woodruff:  So, it sounds like, David, Mark is saying the Democrats are making the wrong call by hanging this argument, hanging their argument on whether to keep the government open on immigration.

David Brooks:  Yes, well, I would say it depends on your time frame.

In the short term, it probably redounds to both parties’ ill will.  Nobody is going to be persuaded here.  The polls say who’s to blame.  Democrats say the Republicans are.  Republicans say the Democrats are.

This is not the sort of issue on which people are persuaded by evidence.  They just go back to their partisan camp.

In the medium term, 2018, if it matters in 2018 — and I think the parties’ basic posture on immigration will matter– I agree with Mark.  It’s bad — if you’re a red state senator trying to hold onto your seat, this is a bad posture for you.  It’s just not good.

In the longer term, of course, if the Republicans maintain the party, not only of Donald Trump, but they turn into the party of Tom Cotton, who wants to cut legal immigration by 50 percent, then that to me is ruinous for the party.

And one of the things that’s fascinating, I think one of the reasons there is so much confusion here, is this was a party that had a very strong Lindsey Graham, John McCain, George W. Bush wing.  And, suddenly, that’s shifted.  And how far has it shifted?  Has it shifted all the way over to Tom Cotton?  A lot further than a lot of us thought.

And so people are trying to catch up to where the party has shifted.  And Donald Trump has muddied the waters by being here, being there, being there, but mostly pretty restrictionist.

Judy Woodruff:  Mark, you’re saying the Democrats had a choice.  They didn’t have to make this about DACA, about immigration, but they chose to do that, and they are taking a risk, you’re saying.

Mark Shields:  Well, yes.

Let me be very clear.  I think Democrats are on the right side of history.  I think they are on the right side morally.  I’m talking about the political judgment and the political assessment that is made.  And will it work for Democrats in House races across the country generically?  Yes, it will give — put the Democrats on the advantage, Republicans at a disadvantage.

But when you’re Mitch McConnell and you’re trying to hold on to the Senate, you’re trying to figure out how I can put Heidi Heitkamp in North Dakota on the defensive.  The Republicans can’t find anybody to run against her.  Everybody’s passed on it.

And how do they take on Claire McCaskill in Missouri or Joe Donnelly in Indiana, both of whom have proved themselves to be formidable in red states and in winning elections?

So I think that’s really where it is.  I just think that there are more opportunities for the Democrats who, in 2016, were, and I think rightly, rightly, targeted as a party of identity politics, of reaching out to constituency by constituency.

(CROSSTALK)

David Brooks:  I would say the one thing that — the tide has been swinging, it looks like, in the Democratic direction in 2018.  And the only way they can mess it up that I can imagine (so far), is if they have a base election, if they go — if they make their voters in New York, and San Francisco and L.A. super happy but make the voters in Indiana and Tennessee and Missouri super unhappy.

And they risk that sort of fissure with this.

Judy Woodruff:  So that’s the state-by-state or district-by-district political calculus.

But, David, is there a price to pay from standing back and looking at this from the way Washington runs standpoint, from the fact it just looks, again, like it’s a place where they can’t get the job done?

David Brooks:  Well, I think the big story there is a lot of people around the country look at Washington and say, why would I ever want to go there?  Why would I ever want to pay attention to that stuff?  Why would I ever believe in that system?

And that’s a problem for the country as a whole.  It’s just, government is obsolescence.  If we’re going to fix problems, we have got to do it some other way, because that thing ain’t working.

It’s a more specific — and Mark has made this point in the past — it’s a more specific problem for Democrats, because the party of government has to live with the discrediting of government.

And in the long term, as people become more disgusted and distrustful of government, it served the Republican Party, at least politically, reasonably well.

Judy Woodruff:  And this coincides, Mark, as we have been saying, with the one-year anniversary of President Trump’s year in office, time in office.

How does he come through this?  I mean, how is he looking right now?  Does he come out of this looking stronger?  What?

Mark Shields:  Well, I wanted to take a step back, so I talked today to Peter Hart, who conducts with Bill McInturff, the Republican, Peter being a Democratic pollster, the Wall Street Journal/NBC poll.  And they did a year assessment.

And Peter said the most common word that was used to describe voters’ feeling a year ago about Donald Trump after the election was hopeful.  The most common word used now is disgust.  And he called it the year of alienation, that Donald Trump — and why is this important, Judy, how people — because a President needs a reservoir of good feeling and goodwill and confidence.

Ronald Reagan had it at Iran-Contra.  And it sustained him.  John Kennedy had it at the Bay of Pigs, where people had a personal relationship.  Lyndon Johnson didn’t have it.  Richard Nixon didn’t have it.  So when they hit rough patches politically, they didn’t have that core of affection, feeling, confidence that voters just extended to them and gave them the benefit of the doubt.

And Donald Trump doesn’t have it.  He lacks it.  Voters don’t think he has temperament, maturity, judgment or selflessness.

Judy Woodruff:  But he does have that core of voters who say they’re still with him, the 35, 40 percent.

Mark Shields:  He does.  No, no question about it.

But, Judy, think about it.  We now have the best economic times probably since the late 1990s, tech boom, really just phenomenal times economically.  The stock market is going through the ceiling.  And he’s still, you know, mid-30s?  I mean, ordinarily, any President, President — would be 60 percent favorable in this kind of an economic…

David Brooks:  And that base, it’s a slow erosion.  It’s a lot slower than I thought, but it’s an erosion.

I cited on the show several weeks ago the FOX News voters are less pro-Trump than they were.  I saw a poll today.  Among white evangelicals dropped — support — favorability for Trump has dropped 17 percent, from 83 percent, down 17 percent.

So that’s an erosion.  And all of this — this porn star stuff, this stuff he says about the countries, that has this slow erosion.  It doesn’t mean they’re fleeing, because what we have in this country is negative polarization.  Nobody likes their own party very much, but they really hate the other party.  So that inhibits it.  But we’re seeing just a steady, slow drip, drip, drip.

POLITICS - The DACA War

IMHO:  NOT fixing DACA is punishing people who where children at the time, for what their parents did.  The same unethical behavior of punishing 'bastard' children for the mistake of a parent.

"How Trump’s reported s***hole comments put DACA talks in jeopardy" PBS NewsHour 1/15/2018

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SUMMARY:  What’s the political fallout from President Trump's reported incendiary comments about some immigrants?  Amy Walter of the Cook Political Report and Margaret Talev of Bloomberg News join John Yang to discuss whether it has derailed immigration talks about DACA protections and how Republicans are responding in different ways.

"What’s dividing lawmakers on DACA and threatening a shutdown" PBS NewsHour 1/16/2018

Answer, the Republicans blaming immigrants (in this case those who were children) for all the 'ills' in America.  It is race-bating for political gain.

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SUMMARY:  President Trump's reported remarks at a White House meeting last week continue to dominate in the days before a looming government funding deadline.  As senators grilled Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen on a specific profanity and President Trump was pressed on a different detail, Congress and the White House try to reassemble talks over DACA.  Lisa Desjardins joins Judy Woodruff.

"[Senate] Republicans say there won’t be a DACA vote this week.  How will Democrats respond?" PBS NewsHour 1/17/2018

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SUMMARY:  The clock is ticking as lawmakers labor to find a way to keep the federal government running, hitting up against demands for more defense spending and a fix for the expiring DACA program.  Lisa Desjardins and Yamiche Alcindor join Judy Woodruff to discuss where negotiations stand and what the White House wants.