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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (July 16, 2019)
A5 THE ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, JULY 16, 2019 Tiny Micro-Chip Now In The Ear: Available! Now You See It... Associated Press From left: Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich.; Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn.; Rep. Alexandria Ocasio- Cortez, D-NY.; Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass. Trump digs in on racist tweets By JILL COLVIN, JONATHAN LEMIRE and CALVIN WOODWARD Associated Press WASHINGTON — Unbowed by searing crit- icism, President Donald Trump on Monday emphati- cally defended his tweet call- ing on four Democratic con- gresswomen of color to go back to their “broken and crime infested” countries. Condemnation of his comments “doesn’t concern me because many people agree with me,” he declared. Trump responded to ques- tions at the White House after his Sunday tweet assailing the lawmakers, all of whom are U.S. citizens and three of whom were born here. He has been roundly criticized by Democrats who labeled his remarks racist and divi- sive. A smattering of Repub- licans also have objected, though most leading Repub- licans have been silent. Trump, resurrecting lan- guage not prevalent in the U.S. for decades, said Mon- day that if the lawmakers “hate our country,” they “can leave” it. “If you’re not happy in the U.S., if you’re complaining all the time, you can leave, you can leave right now,” he said. The lawmakers’ criti- cism has been largely aimed at Trump and his administra- tion’s policies and actions. It was yet another sign that Trump, who won the presidency in 2016 in part by energizing disaffected voters with incendiary racial rheto- ric, has no intention of back- ing away from that strategy going in 2020. Trump has faced few consequences for such attacks, which typically earn him cycles of front-page media attention. Earlier Monday, Trump made clear he had no inten- tion of backing down, asking on Twitter when “the Rad- ical Left Congresswomen” would “apologize to our Country, the people of Israel and even to the Offi ce of the President, for the foul lan- guage they have used, and the terrible things they have said.” “So many people are angry at them & their horri- ble & disgusting actions!” he wrote. Asked whether Trump’s comments were racist, Marc Short, chief of staff to Vice President Mike Pence, defended Trump, tell- ing reporters he had been responding to “very specifi c” comments made by Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, who was born in Somalia, and was not making a “uni- versal statement.” But Trump didn’t make that distinction in his tweets. He cited “Congresswomen” — an almost-certain refer- ence to a group of women who have labeled themselves “the squad” that includes Omar, Rep. Alexandria Oca- sio-Cortez of New York, Ayanna Pressley of Massa- chusetts and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan. “I don’t think that the president’s intent any way is racist,” said Short, point- ing to Trump’s decision to choose Elaine Chao, who was born outside the coun- try, as his transportation secretary. Chao is one of the few minorities working among the largely white and male aides in high-profi le roles in Trump’s administration. She is the wife of Senate Repub- lican leader Mitch McCon- nell, who had made no com- ment on Trump’s attacks as of midday Monday. Omar ignited a bipartisan uproar in Washington several months ago when she sug- gested that some members of Congress support Israel because of money, while Tlaib riled up a supportive crowd by calling the presi- dent a profane name and pre- dicting he would be removed from offi ce. Trump on Monday sin- gled out Omar, in partic- ular, accusing her of hav- ing “hatred” for Israel, and expressing “love” for “ene- mies like al-Qaida.” “These are people that, in my opinion, hate our coun- try,” he said. Trump to end asylum at southern border By COLLEEN LONG Associated Press WASHINGTON — The Trump administration said Monday it will end asy- lum protections for most migrants who arrive at the U.S.-Mexico border, in a major escalation of the pres- ident’s battle to tamp down immigration. Asylum seekers who pass through another country fi rst will be ineligible for asylum at the U.S. southern border, according to a new rule pub- lished in the Federal Reg- ister. The rule, expected to go into effect Tuesday, also applies to children who have crossed the border alone. The rule applies to anyone arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border. Sometimes asylum seekers from Africa, Cuba or Haiti and other continents arrive there, but the vast majority of migrants arriving recently come from Central America. There are some excep- tions, including for vic- tims of human traffi cking and asylum-seekers who were denied protection in a country. If the country the migrant passed through did not sign one of the major international treaties govern- ing how refugees are man- aged (though most West- ern countries signed them) a migrant could still apply for U.S. asylum. But the move by Presi- dent Donald Trump’s admin- istration, even if blocked by courts, is reversing decades of U.S. policy on how refu- gees are treated and marks an escalation even compared to other hardline efforts meant to choke off the fl ow of peo- ple from poor and war-torn nations. Attorney General Wil- liam Barr said that the United States is “a generous country but is being completely over- whelmed” by the burdens associated with apprehend- ing and processing hundreds of thousands of migrants at the southern border. “This rule will decrease forum shopping by eco- nomic migrants and those who seek to exploit our asy- lum system to obtain entry to the United States,” Barr said in a statement. The policy is almost cer- tain to face a legal challenge; the American Civil Liber- ties Union already signaled it would sue. ACLU attor- ney Lee Gelernt, who has litigated some of the major challenges to the Trump administration’s immigra- tion policies, said the rule was unlawful. “The rule, if upheld, would effectively elimi- nate asylum for those at the southern border,” he said. “But it is patently unlawful.” U.S. law allows refugees to request asylum when they arrive at the U.S. regardless of how they did so, but there is an exception for those who have come through a coun- try considered to be “safe.” But the Immigration and Nationality Act, which gov- erns asylum law, is vague on how a country is deter- mined “safe”; it says “pursu- ant to a bilateral or multilat- eral agreement.” Right now, the U.S. has such an agreement, known as a “safe third country,” only with Canada. Mexico and Central American countries were considering a regional compact on the issue, but nothing has been decided. Guatemalan offi cials were expected in Washington on Monday, but apparently a meeting between Trump and Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales was can- celed amid a court challenge in Guatemala over whether the country could agree to a safe third with the U.S. Trump nominates Esper for defense chief ing defense secretary — a job he has held since June — until he is confi rmed as WASHINGTON — Pres- the permanent secretary. ident Donald Trump on He reverted to his previous Monday asked the position of Army Senate to confi rm secretary. Mark Esper as the Filling in for successor to former Esper pending his Defense Secretary confi rmation is Rich- Jim Mattis, whose ard Spencer, who resignation last has been the civilian December opened leader of the Navy Mark Esper an unprecedented since August 2017. period of senior- Spencer’s ten- level instability at the ure as acting secretary is Pentagon. expected to be brief. Esper The moment the nomi- will have his Senate con- nation was received by the fi rmation hearing on Tues- Senate on Monday after- day and could be confi rmed noon, Esper was required as early as Thursday. Spen- to step out of his role as act- cer would then return to the By ROBERT BURNS Associated Press Navy. Esper, who has been the civilian leader of the Army since November 2017, has a wide range of experience with defense issues, includ- ing years on Capitol Hill. More recently he was a lob- byist for Raytheon Co., which does a lot of business with the Pentagon. Esper’s former work with Raytheon is likely to come up at his Senate Armed Services Committee hear- ing on Tuesday. Sen. Eliza- beth Warren, a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination and a member of the committee, has raised questions about Esper’s lob- bying background. Now You Don’t! 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