Deportations halted - LGBTQ protections expanded - Olympics in doubt

The Biden administration this week announced a 100-day pause on deportations of most people living in the country illegally along with a new priority system for those who will still be subject to removal. Immigrants already in the U.S. who pose a national security or public safety risk including anyone convicted of an "aggravated felony" are also a top priority under the new department-wide guidance.
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The memo makes clear that Homeland Security will not be issuing a full stop on arrests and removals. But it requires Immigration and Customs Enforcement to report on its implementation of the new priorities. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton launched a lawsuit Friday against the deportation pause. The state AG office called it a violation of the Constitution.
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Homeland Security also announced this week it will suspend a policy rolled out by the Trump administration that forced tens of thousands of asylum seekers to remain in Mexico while they waited for their day in immigration court. The announcements on enforcement changes came as President Biden also put forward his legislative immigration proposal which provides a pathway to citizenship for 11 million undocumented immigrants.

Even though Republicans don’t have a majority in the Senate any longer, under the body’s rules, the GOP still chairs some committees, the three new Senators who took their oaths this week can’t be assigned committees and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell can still block progress going into this two-year congressional session. Until the two parties’ leaders — or all 100 Senators on a separate track — agree to how the Upper Chamber will work for the next two years, the old rules still hold. And central to those rules is whether a lone Senator in the minority can gum up the entire agenda via the filibuster.
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The filibuster gives the minority party leverage and largely keeps anything from going forward along strictly partisan lines, but it’s also been a favorite boogeyman for some Democrats who have renewed their want to switch to a simple majority-rules posture. McConnell, wants Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to agree to keeping the filibuster in place so the out-of-power party can essentially block anything lacking 60 votes.
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The progressives in the Democratic caucus want to trigger the so-called nuclear option and start passing routine legislation by 51-vote margins. Moderates are warning that might feel good in the short run, but the change could eventually haunt Democrats when they inevitably return to the minority. This wrangling is already hampering Biden’s ability to confirm members of his Cabinet.

On Thursday, International Olympic Committee Chief Thomas Bach kept in lockstep with Tokyo, telling the Kyodo News Agency that there is no "plan B" for the games, which are scheduled to be held from July 23 to Aug. 8. At the moment, Japan's biggest cities — Tokyo and Osaka, along with several other prefectures — are under a state of emergency aimed at halting a third wave of coronavirus infections. The emergency will last until at least Feb. 7.
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If Japan fails to flatten the curve, the emergency could be extended, possibly sealing the fate of the games. Some decision will likely have to be made before the Olympic Torch Relay is scheduled to begin on March 25. Officials might be putting off the decision in hopes that the pandemic situation will suddenly improve, but Author Ryu Honma, one of the games' most vocal critics argued that, more likely, they are waiting until they have no other choice.
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Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga has said that the games must be held to send the message that mankind has triumphed over the virus. He has seen his approval ratings fizzle over the perception that he has bungled the response to the pandemic, prioritizing politics and corporate profits over people's health. They may take a further hit if he defies public opinion about the games.

President Biden’s latest orders would increase the weekly value of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, commonly known as food stamps, for about 12 million families who depend on the program the most, according to White House estimates. A second executive order will lay the groundwork for the federal government to require a $15 an hour minimum wage for its employees and contract workers, while making it easier for federal workers to bargain collectively for better pay and benefits. Mr. Biden will also seek to allow workers to draw unemployment benefits if they quit jobs they fear are unsafe amid the pandemic.
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The orders Mr. Biden signed on Friday were aimed at what White House officials called a “growing hunger crisis facing 29 million adults” and up to 12 million children, which has driven families across the country to line up outside food banks for assistance. Mr. Biden, nodding to that reality, once again appealed to Congress to pass the $1.9 trillion package he outlined this month, saying the economy would be worse off if the United States did not spend money now to prevent further pain.
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Some Republicans fought an expansion of unemployment benefits last year, saying workers would quit jobs or avoid looking for work in order to draw government benefits. Academic research has not supported that fear, and employers have once again begun shedding jobs as the virus persists.

The executive order outlines a broad interpretation of last year’s landmark Supreme Court ruling that gay and transgender employees are covered by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination “because of sex.” The Trump administration had interpreted that decision in Bostock v. Clayton County, Ga., narrowly and only applying to employment.
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Many of the arguments against the executive order focused on a perceived threat that transgender women pose to women’s sports, an idea transgender advocate Gillian Branstetter called “opportunistic and deeply unfounded.” More than 16 states have policies that facilitate full inclusion of transgender students in high school sports and “and have for quite some time,” said Branstetter.
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Amid these advancements, Republican state lawmakers have already filed a wave of bills attempting to ban medical professionals from treating transgender teens with hormones and gender-affirming surgery, and restricting transgender students’ participation in sports according to their gender identity.