Fast Facts for August 30, 2021
The Supreme Court says the Biden Administration must reinstate a Trump-era policy at the border….like now.
What policy?
President Trump’s policy for asylum seekers.
That program is officially called the “migrant protection protocols” but you probably know it as the “remain in Mexico” policy. That program does not allow any asylum seekers to wait in the United States while their case is being processed. Instead, they must wait in Mexico as US border authorities decide on whether they qualify for asylum or not.
The SCOTUS ruling itself is just a few sentences and simply upholds a lower court’s ruling that said the administration didn’t do enough to justify ending the program and has to reinstate it.
When President Trump was in office tens of thousands of migrants seeking asylum were turned away at the border under this policy. But then when the pandemic started, you know, the borders closed – to almost everyone. Those policies still continue to this day. Very shortly after President Biden took office he suspended the “wait in Mexico” policy and homeland security ended it officially in June.
So is it coming back?
Well, in the lower court ruling that the supreme court upheld, that judge said the administration must make a “good faith effort” to restart the program. Homeland security says has started engaging with our partners in Mexico. But it’s not really clear how many people will be affected and how quickly it’ll happen.
Also it’s worth noting that the Supreme Court’s written ruling, does not prevent the Biden Administration from trying again to end the program. And the Biden Administration says it plans to do just that.
Read the SCOTUS ruling here.
PLUS
The United States intelligence community finally issued its report on the origins of the Covid 19 virus.
It came from a lab in China right? No came from a bat at a wet market?
I’m going to warn you – the official answer is probably going to be unsatisfying to most of you.
The official answer — according to the two-page declassified report released from the Director of National Intelligence over the weekend – there’s no consensus among the intelligence agencies to definitely say which it is. In fact – the report says the intelligence community remains “divided” on the most likely origin of Covid19.
Some US intelligence agencies say there is “low confidence” the initial Covid19 infection was most likely caused by natural exposure to an infected animal. Others say they have “moderate confidence” the first human infection was most likely the result of a lab-associated incident”. And still other in the “intelligence community” remain unable to agree on either explanation without additional information.
But the US intelligence community did come to some conclusions.
They say — the virus was *not* developed as a biological weapon.
And say definitively — Covid19 first emerged and infected humans on a “small scale” in November 2019 and the first known cluster of Covid19 virus was in Wuhan China in December of 2019.
This report is the result of a 90-day review that the president ordered back in May.
Here’s the problem the intelligence community says they will be “unable to provide a more definitive explanation” unless new information is provided specifically from China about what it knew, and when. The intelligence community says the Chinese government continues to “hinder” the global investigation.
Since this report was released – the Chinese government came out with a slew of its own allegations some blaming the United States for everything from biased intelligence investigators to blaming the origins of Covid19 on the us military lab at Fort Detrick in Maryland.
Read the 2-page declassified report here.
