Trump's DHS Spent $1.5 Billion to Block ICE Accountability

Trump denied disaster aid to blue states and approved it for red ones, the DOJ threatened to jail election officials over nonexistent fraud, and an ICE facility DHS calls top-notch now has measles

Good afternoon. I’m Ryan Rose, and this is AlterNet America.

Trump denied $227 million in snowstorm aid to four Democratic-led states while approving relief for six Republican ones. The DOJ sent letters to all 50 states threatening election officials with criminal prosecution over noncitizen voting that’s virtually nonexistent. DHS just spent $1.5 billion buying two California prisons to make it harder for the state to inspect them. And measles is now spreading through an Arizona ICE facility that has what DHS calls the best healthcare detainees have ever received.

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Now, let’s dive in.

Trump Denied Snowstorm Aid to Four Blue States

Trump is now the only natural disaster that gets to pick its victims.

Trump on Friday rejected $227 million in disaster aid requests from New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island for recovery from a major February snowstorm. Each of the four has a Democratic governor and two Democratic senators.

Two days earlier, he approved 11 other requests, including aid for Louisiana, Wisconsin and Kansas. The White House says there is “no politicization” here and that Trump reviews requests more thoroughly than any president before him.

POLITICO’s numbers tell a different story. This term Trump has approved 23% of requests from states with Democratic governors and two Democratic senators, and 89% from states run by Republicans.

The thoroughness argument also runs into the damage estimates. FEMA itself documented $84.4 million in eligible damage in New Jersey against a threshold of roughly $18.5 million. Rhode Island’s rejected $19 million request was about ten times its qualifying threshold.

Meanwhile FEMA approved $8.6 million for Louisiana, an amount roughly equal to that state’s threshold, after Trump praised the Republican Senate candidate there. That much for a Senate endorsement? He’s somehow gotten worse at negotiating.

DOJ Threatens to Jail Election Officials Over Nonexistent Fraud

The DOJ has given election officials five days to solve a fake problem or face real charges.

The Justice Department confirmed Tuesday it sent letters to election officials in all 50 states and the District of Columbia warning them they could face criminal prosecution over noncitizen voting. The letters were signed by Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, who runs the department’s Civil Rights Division, and give states five days to explain how they’ll keep “clean voter lists.”

Noncitizen voting in federal elections is extremely rare. Trump and his administration have spent years falsely portraying it as a widespread crisis, and now that fiction comes with a threat of prison time for the officials who don’t play along.

The letters warn that any election officer who “knowingly retains noncitizens” on a voter list or “facilitates” their voting could be criminally liable. They even suggest that “an intentional act that is aimed at diluting the votes of citizens” could be a federal violation.

Utah Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson, one of the officials who received one, called it “truly bizarre behavior.” “Got another love letter this morning from the DOJ sprinkled throughout with threats of criminal prosecution,” she wrote.

This is the latest move in the DOJ’s campaign to seize state voter rolls. The department has sued 30 states and Washington, D.C., for resisting. So far, 11 different federal courts have thrown those efforts out.

The DOJ is threatening election officials with prison for not playing along with a lie. Corporate media will cover it for a news cycle and move on. AlterNet America won’t. If fearless, independent journalism matters to you, become a paid subscriber today.

DHS Spent $1.5 Billion to Block ICE Accountability

Nothing says “we have nothing to hide” like spending billions so nobody can look.

The Department of Homeland Security purchased two privately run detention facilities from CoreCivic on Monday, the Otay Mesa Detention Center and California City Detention Center, for about $1.5 billion. CoreCivic will keep operating both, meaning the company still makes money on top of the sale price.

California law requires privately held detention centers to be open to inspection by state and local authorities and members of Congress. Now that DHS owns the buildings, the administration is betting federal ownership trumps that law.

DHS said so almost outright, arguing ICE “can not rely on local state and county partners for detention space in California.” Civil rights attorney Alexa Van Brunt called it “a very clear attempt to evade oversight and accountability.”

The move may also shield Otay Mesa from Owino v. CoreCivic, a class-action lawsuit alleging forced labor there that has been ongoing since 2017. GEO Group’s CEO has openly floated federal ownership as the “logical solution” to blue-state oversight.

At least 21 people have died in ICE custody this year, according to data collected by lawyer and journalist Andrew Free. The detained population has jumped from around 45,000 last year to more than 63,000 just this week.

Measles Outbreak Rocks Arizona ICE Facility

DHS says its Arizona detention center offers “the best healthcare than many aliens have received in their entire lives.” Seven of them currently have measles.

Federal officials confirmed seven active cases of measles at the Florence Detention Center in Arizona, prompting quarantines and a suspension of in-person visitation. ICE Health Services Corps said it ceased all movement within the facility and quarantined everyone suspected of contact.

DHS said only non-legal visits are restricted. The Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project says that isn’t accurate, and that all in-person visits are suspended. Detainees are also not being transported to immigration court, which extends how long they sit in detention.

This isn’t the first time. In February, ICE was quietly managing three confirmed measles cases in Florence facilities. Arizona has confirmed 108 measles cases this year, 96% of them in unvaccinated people.

A June Florence Project report described “inhumane” conditions there, including 200 to 300 men held in rooms designed for about 100. One Cuban asylum seeker, Deris Perez Martinez, was held in the short-term Florence Staging Facility for eight days without his diabetes medicine. His blood sugar reached nearly 500 and caused lasting vision problems.

The staging facility is meant for stays of up to 72 hours. Some detainees reported being held there for weeks. The only thing moving quickly in that facility is the measles.

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Thanks for reading. We’ll see you tomorrow.

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