Clippers’ Amir Coffey finding himself in spotlight more often
WASHINGTON — Democratic lawmakers including California Sen. Alex Padilla are urging President Joe Biden to take action now to protect immigrants with temporary legal statuses and work authorizations. President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to move quickly to crack down on immigrants once he takes office, including mass deportations. The lawmakers said during a news conference Wednesday that protecting hundreds of thousands of immigrants was not just a moral imperative, but an economic priority as well. "By taking work authorization for hundreds of thousands of workers away, we're gutting our own workforce," Sen. Steve Padilla of California said. "For all the voters who turned out in November, who told campaigns and pollsters that top of mind for them was the high cost of living, the cost of housing, the price of food and so much more: Let's be clear that mass deportations will directly result in an economic disaster and higher prices." Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada said White House officials told her they are considering the request, but have offered no timetable for when they could act. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. She and Padilla, along with Sen. Ben Ray Luján of New Mexico, sent Biden a letter last week asking him to redesignate eligible countries, including Nicaragua, El Salvador and Venezuela, for Temporary Protected Status, and to designate Ecuador for protections. They also urged Biden to expedite processing of applications for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, an Obama-era program granting work permits and deportation protections to certain immigrants brought to the U.S. as children. California is home to about 68,000 Temporary Protected Status holders and 150,000 DACA recipients . Temporary Protected Status is a presidential authority that allows people to live and work in the U.S. when conditions in their home country, such as war or environmental disaster, make it unsafe to return. More than 860,000 immigrants from 17 countries are protected under the program, which the Biden administration significantly expanded. The program's protection is granted for up to 18 months. Protections for some countries are due to end soon; designations for El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Nepal and Sudan, for instance, expire in March. Renewing them now would buy those immigrants more time to work legally and seek out alternative legal options. During his first term, Trump revoked the humanitarian protections for people from several countries, but a class-action lawsuit kept their protections in place until the Biden administration took office and reversed Trump's move. It is widely anticipated that Trump will attempt to revoke the protections or let them expire soon after being sworn in. The plea by lawmakers and advocates comes after Trump said on NBC's "Meet the Press" that the only way to prevent families from being separated is to deport them all, including children who are U.S. citizens. Trump also said he will "work with Democrats on a plan" to help DACA recipients remain in the country. The Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on Tuesday titled, "How mass deportations will separate American families, harm our armed forces, and devastate our economy." In a floor speech previewing the hearing a day earlier, Sen. Richard J. Durbin, D-Ill., said there's reason to be skeptical, if not cynical, of Trump's promises to work with Democrats. "(In his) last term, President-elect Trump walked away from four different bipartisan compromises with Democrats to solve the DACA crisis," Durbin said. "Democrats were willing to provide billions of dollars, at one point, for President Trump's unpopular border wall in exchange for a bipartisan Dream Act, but we just couldn't seem to reach a positive answer." Andrea Flores, a former Biden White House official who is now vice president for immigration policy and campaigns at the advocacy group Fwd.us , said Biden's decision to protect hundreds of thousands of immigrants from dangerous conditions is being politicized in the aftermath of the election. She noted that Temporary Protected Status is a bipartisan law created in 1990, has been used by presidents of both political parties and requires "a sober legal assessment of the diplomatic foreign policy and country conditions." "Factors that are not in the law could potentially stop the Biden administration from acting," she said. "The usage of TPS historically has always reflected the best of what our country does, which is to protect people fleeing harm from oppressive regimes. To fail to act now, to protect those people that we welcomed in and provided refuge to, would be a stain on the Biden administration's legacy for years to come." ©2024 Los Angeles Times. Visit latimes.com . Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.New Delhi, Nov 23 (PTI) BJP president J P Nadda on Saturday hailed his party's victory in Maharashtra assembly polls and byelections in various states as "historic" and said people have put their seal on the Prime Minister's vision for the country's development, rejecting the opposition's politics of division and appeasement. Addressing an event organised at the BJP headquarters after the results of the elections, Nadda accepted people's mandate in Jharkhand and asserted that his party will play the role of "constructive opposition" in the state and fight against infiltration from Bangladesh "till the last breath". Also Read | Maharashtra Assembly Poll Results Unexpected, Incomprehensible; Something Fishy, Says Uddhav Thackeray. "It's a historic day," he said. In the latest round of elections, the people of Maharashtra and other states have put their stamp on Modi's agenda of development and his resolve to serve the nation, he said. "People have once again endorsed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership and 'vikasvaad', and those who were dividing the country on the lines of caste misleading people have fallen flat on their face in these elections," he said. Also Read | Maharashtra Assembly Elections Results 2024: 5 Major Factors That Helped MahaYuti To Win Landslide Victory. "Results of these elections and the one held in Haryana recently have given a reply to those in INDI alliance who were living in the illusion that they will gain to power by pursuing appeasement politics and dividing people on the lines of caste and religion," he added. Nadda also took on Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray and said that the BJP-led NDA had won in the 2019 Maharashtra assembly polls but Thackeray "betrayed and insulted" the people's mandate succumbing to his "greed for power". "The BJP had won the 2019 elections as well but Uddhav Thackeray betrayed us. Maharashtra has rejected him in these elections "Today people have rejected him and given a message that they are with Modi, Mahayuti, BJP, (Eknath Shinde's) Shiv Sena and NCP (of Ajit Pawar)," he added. The poll results also reflect the "mood of the nation", he added. (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)