By Sarah Oven ( Cronkite News ) – WASHINGTON – Advocates called on President Joe Biden to “tear down this wall” Tuesday and fulfill his campaign promise of stopping the border wall construction that he put on hold in January. The meeting of border-state lawmakers, advocates and tribal members came 70 days after Biden, in […]
DHS’s Mayorkas brands “Crisis” language about Border as Trumpian, Says Challenge Doesn’t Require Cruel Family Separation
By Ryan Knappenberger | – ( Cronkite News) – WASHINGTON – Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas defended the Biden administration’s immigration policies Wednesday, but conceded the department faces “historic and unprecedented challenges” coping with a surge in migrants, particularly unaccompanied minors, in recent months. Mayorkas’ comments came in his first appearance as secretary before a […]
Senate makes history with vote confirming Haaland as first Native American Interior secretary
By Sarah Oven | – (Cronkite News) – (WASHINGTON – The Senate Monday confirmed New Mexico Rep. Deb Haaland as the next Interior secretary, a historic vote that makes her the first Native American to head a Cabinet agency. The confirmation came over the objection of Senate Republicans, particularly those representing Western states dependent on […]
Auditor says Trump admin. knew ‘zero-tolerance’ would separate children from parents at border
By Ryan Knappenberger | – ( Cronkite News) – WASHINGTON – Then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions knew the Trump administration’s “zero-tolerance” immigration policy would separate families at the border but moved ahead with it anyway, a Justice Department official told lawmakers this week. Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz told the House Oversight and Reform Committee […]
Dreamers in Arizona Enthusiastically welcome Biden’s immigration plan, but older Immigrants say it doesn’t go far enough
By Emma VandenEinde and Tyler Manion | – ( Cronkite News ) – PHOENIX – On his first day in office, President Joe Biden sent to Congress his plan to reform the U.S. immigration system. The bill includes preserving the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, and outlines a path to permanent residence […]
The Mall was 1/2 empty for Trump’s Inauguration, but the threat of his armed Militias Completely Emptied it for Biden’s
By Ryan Knappenberger | – ( Cronkite News ) – WASHINGTON – Four years ago, President Donald Trump claimed the crowd attending his inauguration was the largest in history, a claim widely ridiculed in the face of photos showing a half-empty National Mall. But when President-elect Joe Biden is sworn in Wednesday, it’s safe to […]
The other pandemic: Loneliness widespread with the loss of social connections
By Chloe Jones | Special for Cronkite News | – PHOENIX – The pandemic has affected different people in different ways, causing financial stress due to job loss, sliding grades, relationship pressures and worries that vulnerable loved ones could contract COVID-19. But one factor that has affected Americans across the country is the loss of […]
Is Arizona Turning Blue? The Shape of Democratic Victory
By Catherine Fusillo | – ( Cronkite News ) – WASHINGTON – For years, Democrats have argued that Arizona was about to turn blue, and this year they came closer than they had in decades, winning the presidential race and unseating an incumbent Republican senator. Close, but not the “blue wave” Democrats had been hoping […]
As pandemic surges, health officials call COVID-19 fatigue real and dangerous
By Joycelyn Cabrera | – ( Cronkite News ) – WASHINGTON – The numbers can be numbing. And that’s exactly what health officials fear. More than a half-million Arizonans have contracted COVID-19 and more than 8,700 have died from it so far, according to state data. The disease is surging again, with one week this […]