The first known DREAMer with active DACA status has been deported. Yesterday, news broke that 23-year-old Juan Manuel Montes, a DACA recipient who has lived in California since he was nine, was detained by immigration agents and deported on February 17. Despite the fact that Montes was granted deportation protections twice under President Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, he was detained by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers. And within hours of his detention, he was back in Mexico.
Montes is the first known DREAMer with active DACA status to be deported under the Trump Administration, but several other DACA recipients have been detained by immigration officials. Since taking office, Trump has followedthrough on his extreme campaign promises with his Muslim ban executive actions. But Trump has repeatedly said he would not deport DACA recipients claiming, “I do have a big heart.” Trump has yet to comment on the action but Rep. Steve King (R-IA), who you may remember from his “somebody else’s babies” tweet, was quick to celebrate Juan’s deportation.
Montes’s deportation is a direct consequence of Trump’s assault on immigrant families and shows the real consequences of his extreme agenda. Here’s what you can do: Sign this petition demanding #JusticeForJuan.
ACTION OF THE DAY
#JusticeForJuan. Once you’ve signed the petition demanding that Juan be brought back from Mexico, help hold Congress accountable for the Trump Administration’s extreme actions. Planning on going to a town hall? Ask your member to demand that Juan be brought back home. No town halls in your area? Call or tweet at your member of Congress to demand #JusticeForJuan.
Find a town hall near you: ResistanceNearMe.org and the tools you need to resist: RecessToolkit.com.
WHAT’S TRENDING
“Unverified.” Remember the infamous Steele Dossier that contains “unverified” allegations of jaw-dropping links between Trump, his campaign, and the Russian government? Well, turns out it might not be as fake as Trump had hoped. Apparently, the Dossier has some credibility within the U.S. intelligence community—and it has even been used to bolster the FBI investigation into Russian interference in the election. Want to learn more? The Moscow Project is tracking the investigation here.
“Taking Action.” The Trump Administration would very much like to appear as if they have the rapidly-escalating North Korea situation under control. They do not. Just last week, Trump said he was sending a “very powerful” naval armada to the Korean peninsula as a warning to the North Koreans. But that aircraft carrier that Trump mentioned? According to the U.S. Navy, as of this weekend, it was still sitting 3,500 miles from North Korea on the Australian coast. Maybe the next time Trump promises military action, he’ll check in with the U.S. Navy first.
#FlipThe6th. Democrat Jon Ossoff came remarkably close last night to doing the unimaginable – flipping the reliably red GA-06 district. The ruby red GOP stronghold since 1979 was previously held by HHS Secretary Tom Price. Despite falling short of the necessary 50 percent to avoid a June runoff, Ossoff notched a win for progressives, forcing Republicans to pump $5 million into the race and forcing feverish Trump tweets. Ossoff finished with 48 percent of the vote. And, of course, Trump took credit.
Profiting off the presidency. It seems that Donald Trump likes campaigning for president more than actually being president. There are likely a myriad of reasons for this—winning’s easy, governing’s harder after all—but it also appears that Trump’s constant campaigning is an easy way for him to profit off the presidency. Trump has already spent $6.3 million of his reelection campaign funds, with some of that money going directly to his own businesses. Read more here.
Cancelled. The chaos of the Trump White House continues as a major meeting to decide the fate of the Paris climate agreement was cancelled at the last minute yesterday. The meeting will apparently be rescheduled before the G7 meeting at the end of May.
UNDER THE RADAR
Hidden costs. Though the U.S.’s participation in the Paris agreement lives for now, the Trump Administration continues to take anti-environment actions. At the end of March, Donald Trump signed an executive order that attempted to upend critical components of President Obama’s Climate Action Plan—but it also rescinded tracking of the social cost of carbon, or SCC—i.e. the overall economic cost of adding carbon to the atmosphere. SCC plays a key role in validating federal climate policies, so rescinding it hurts our environment, but makes Trump’s friends in the fossil fuel industry happy. Read more here.
GOOD NEWS
Retirement. Rep. Jason Chaffetz, chair of the House Oversight Committee who has pushed back against investigating Trump but fervently investigated Hillary Clinton and who made a name for himself by lying about Planned Parenthood announced he is not running for reelection in 2018.