Biden unveils immigration plan

The Biden Administration is presenting its immigration reform proposal today, a sweeping plan that would create a pathway to citizenship for millions of undocumented immigrants. The two-tier program would make farmworkers, Temporary Protected Status holders, and undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as children eligible for green cards. After three years, they could apply to become U.S. citizens. All other eligible immigrants would be able to request temporary deportation relief and work permits while being placed on an eight-year pathway toward citizenship.

• — More legal immigration. Another centerpiece of the bill is an expansion of legal immigration. The plan would raise the current per-country caps for family and employment-based immigrant visas and reassign unused visas. It would render spouses and children of green card holders "immediate family members," exempting them from the caps.
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• — No more family separations. Other provisions would ask the Department of Homeland Security to implement "smart" border security measures and allocate funds to expand the infrastructure to process asylum applicants and intercept illicit drugs. Most importantly, DHS would be required to issue new guidelines governing the care of migrant minors—prohibiting the department from separating children from their parents.
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• — A bipartisan invitation. Rep. Linda Sánchez and Sen. Bob Menendez introduced the proposal in the House and Senate, respectively. "If Republicans want to come forward and work on immigration, I think the president is open to working with anyone who wants to get something done and get a bill to his desk," a White House official said late yesterday. —CBS News

Caribbean Cruz

With 3 million Texans shivering in the dark, Sen. Ted Cruz jetted off to a resort in Cancun, Mexico, with his family yesterday, triggering an avalanche of condemnation for abandoning his constituents during an epic statewide power crisis. Earlier, after old tweets resurfaced in which Cruz mocked California for its power shortages, the Republican senator tweeted, "I got no defense. A blizzard strikes Texas & our state shuts down. Not good. Stay safe!" Former Congressman Beto O'Rourke, who narrowly lost to Cruz in 2018, criticized him for "vacationing in Cancun right now when people are literally freezing to death in the state that he was elected to represent and serve." —The Dallas Morning News

MORE: 'How does that happen?': Water crisis unfolding in Houston amid power outages, frozen pipes —Houston Chronicle

Edsall: The social media crisis is a democracy crisis

"As long as truth can be disguised—and as citizens lose the ability to distinguish truth from falsehood—democracy will continue to weaken, ultimately becoming something altogether different from what we are accustomed to. And all of this is happening while most of us continue to be unaware of the transformation that has taken place during our lifetime, functionally oblivious to the 'epistemic crisis,' both as a contributor to the problem and as an accelerant." —Thomas Edsall in The New York Times

Thomas Edsall is a columnist at The New York Times covering politics, demographics, and inequality.

MORE: How countries amplify COVID-19 disinformation —Axios

Australian media ghosted by Facebook

It's a blackout of a different kind Down Under. Facebook is restricting publishers and users in Australia from viewing or sharing news articles on the platform. The social media company and the Australian government are in a standoff over a legislative proposal that would force tech companies to pay newspapers for content—potentially leading to a global transformation of the relationship between tech companies and traditional media. Facebook's move will result in a blackout for content from Australian publishers on Facebook worldwide, and the unavailability of domestic and international news content within Australia. —The Wall Street Journal

MORE: Social media app Parler says it's relaunching —MarketWatch

Gunson: Two years on, Venezuela's Maduro problem remains

"[President Nicolas] Maduro, who cleaned up in elections last December that the opposition called a sham, looks more entrenched than ever. The opposition's unrealistic appraisal of its own strength led it over a cliff. 'Maximum pressure' failed, and [Juan] Guaidó's strategy is on the rocks. Support for his 'interim presidency' was already ebbing last year. Now, the parliamentary majority that was the basis for Guaidó's claim to power as the president of the National Assembly has expired, with 90% of seats controlled by Maduro allies after the opposition boycotted December's polls." —Phil Gunson in World Politics Review

Phil Gunson is the senior analyst for the Andes at the International Crisis Group, an independent conflict-prevention organization.

MORE: Jailed suspect in plot to overthrow Venezuelan president Maduro blames Colombia, Guaidó —NBC News

Focus on voting

Republican state legislators and secretaries of state have announced the creation of a commission that will examine election laws, amid a countrywide GOP push to curb expanded access to voting. The announcement from the Republican State Leadership Committee indicates that the commission will focus on voter roll accuracy, absentee and mail-in voting, and the process for counting ballots that are received by Election Day. Democrats criticized the commission as a coordinated effort of voter suppression. —CNN

• — Georgia. Three Board of Elections officials have voted to fire Rick Barron, the man in charge of overseeing elections in Fulton Co., Ga., the state's most populous county. They said problems caused by the coronavirus last year highlighted weaknesses in the county's election management. They also said change was necessary to modernize election processes and restore voter confidence. —U.S. News & World Report
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• — Iowa. Iowa's legislature is discussing a bill that would rewrite state election law in a way that critics say favors the GOP. The bill would restrict two popular voting options—vote-by-mail and early voting—and penalize county auditors with fines and criminal charges for ignoring state guidance. The bill would cut the state's mail and in-person early voting period from 29 days to 18. State Republicans previously whittled it down from 40 days. —ABC News
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• — Utah. Voters in Utah could see major changes to how election primaries are conducted if House Bill 127 becomes law. The legislation would require ranked-choice voting to be used in certain regular primary elections for state or county offices. "If no candidate gets 50% of the vote in a round, then we eliminate the bottom candidate and redistribute their second-choice votes to the other candidates," said Justin Lee, the state director of elections. —KSL NewsRadio

Law: Cooperate globally to save democracy

"I still believe that democracy prevails, but it relies on consolidated efforts from individuals and institutions that believe in it. If we don't walk the walk, we will regret handing future generations a more autocratic world. Perception drives actions. It's time for the West to recognize the decline of democracy as a global problem and resolve it with international action." —Nathan Law in Foreign Policy

Nathan Law is a former student leader, elected representative, and political prisoner in Hong Kong, now residing in London.

I wrote this on June 5, 2017. Unfortunately, it holds up well...too well...today.

Mr. Trump, your George E. Johnson is out there.

Have you ever heard of George E., for Emerson, Johnson?

No? Then how about Eliot Ness?

Of course, you've heard of Eliot Ness. He was the fearless federal agent who brought down Al Capone, right?

Well, not exactly.

Eliot Ness was a camera-hungry publicity hound who spent much of his time busting up breweries that held little beer. Late in his life, he worked with a sportswriter named Oscar Fraley to create a breathless autobiography that Desi Arnaz thought would make a great television series.

George Emerson Johnson was an Iowa farm boy who became a lawyer, shunned the limelight, and while working for the Justice Department in Chicago, came up with a unique and novel, even audacious, strategy for taking down Al Capone:

Income tax evasion.

Slowly, methodically, without fanfare, George Emerson Johnson built the case that put a manacled Al Capone on a barge to Alcatraz.

Today Donald Trump is thumbing his nose at much that is both good and legal in the United States. Confident in his ability to ride out any storm, comfortable that the support he appears to enjoy from an albeit dwindling population will protect him from impeachment or prosecution.

But somewhere in America, in a cramped and windowless office in Albany, Boston, or Sacramento, a 29-year-old lawyer...perhaps a graduate of an unheralded law school which most Americans have never heard of, maybe on his or her own time…is developing a novel strategy, and building a case, that will be responsible for transporting Donald Trump from the White House to the Big House.

Trump's George Emerson Johnson is out there. We just haven't heard from him…or her.

Yet. —Jim V., New York

The views expressed in "What's Your Take?" are submitted by readers and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff or the Stand Up Republic Foundation.