Welcome to Wednesday, August 28, first classers and coachers...

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will no longer allow undocumented immigrants to remain in the country while they or their relatives receive life-saving medical treatments.

In letters sent recently in Boston, California, North Carolina, and other states, USCIS said it would no longer consider “medical deferred action” program applications, according to the Associated Press.

“Can anyone imagine the government ordering you to disconnect your child from life-saving care — to pull them from a hospital bed — knowing that it will cost them their lives?” said Anthony Marino, head of immigration legal services at the Irish International Immigrant Center.

USCIS and ICE have not responded to requests for comment. However, a USCIS spokeswoman said the policy change was effective Aug. 7.

Do you support ending protection for migrants' medical care?

On the Radar

'Heartbeat' Abortion Law Temporarily Blocked

A federal judge in Kansas City, Missouri, on Tuesday issued a temporary injunction to block Missouri’s “heartbeat” abortion ban from taking effect on Wednesday.

District Judge Howard Sachs granted the injunction requested by attorneys from Planned Parenthood and the American Civil Liberties Union, which effectively puts the law on hold while challenges to the law make their way through the legal process.

Known as the “Missouri Stands for the Unborn Act," the law would prohibit abortions from being performed after eight weeks of pregnancy, at which point electrical activity from a fetal heartbeat can typically be detected. 

Abortions after eight weeks would be allowed if necessitated by medical emergency. However, Missouri's heartbeat law doesn’t include an exception in cases of rape or incest, like those proposed in other states.

Do you support laws banning abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected?

States Sue to Stop Indefinite Migrant Detention

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra is leading a coalition of 18 other states and the District of Columbia in suing the Trump administration over a new rule allowing undocumented families to be held in detention indefinitely.

“This new Trump rule callously puts at risk the safety and well-being of children. It undermines a decades-old agreement reached in court by the federal government to prevent the unlawful detention of immigrant children,” Becerra said in announcing the lawsuit.

The White House and Justice Department have not yet responded to requests for comment.

Do you support allowing the indefinite detention of migrant families?

Under the Radar

FEC Effectively Shuts Down

The Federal Election Commission (FEC) has lost its enforcement power following the resignation of Vice Chairman Matthew Petersen, a long-serving Republican appointee.

Petersen’s departure leaves the FEC with only three out of six commissioners, meaning the agency is one vote short of the quorum needed to initiate audits, police campaign finance law violations, engage in rulemaking, vote on enforcement matters, issue an advisory opinion, or hold meetings.

The FEC’s commissioners are appointed by the president to serve a single six-year term, subject to Senate confirmation. 

By law, no more than three of the commissioners on the six-member panel can belong to the same political party.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who has dubbed himself the “grim reaper” of progressive policies, has expressed little interest in filling the vacant seats. Trump had nominated Texas attorney James E. “Trey” Trainor III to the FEC in September 2017, but the Senate has not held a confirmation hearing.

Do you support partially shutting down the FEC?

What You're Saying

Here's how you're answering Should Congress Declare Climate Change an ‘Existential Emergency’ Similar to WWII?