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A28 u.s. news
Diaranson 9 Juni 2021

US threatens legal action against Texas on shelter closures

(AP) - The Biden administration sel, wrote in the letter two Abbott and The Biden administration has worked The letter says the state would be
threatened Monday to pursue two other Texas officials. The “proc- to speed up the transfers from Bor- discriminating against providers who
legal action if Texas Gov. Greg lamation would be a direct attack on der Patrol to HHS custody, and the have federal government grants to
Abbott doesn’t rescind his order this system.” releases of children to relatives in the run these shelters. That would vio-
shutting down federally funded U.S. In the past month, HHS has late the doctrine of intergovernmen-
shelters that house migrant chil- The letter urges Abbott to clarify by reduced the number of children in tal immunity, which impedes state in-
dren who cross the U.S.-Mexico June 11 whether his proclamation shelters or emergency sites by releas- terfering with federal activity, and the
border without their parents. last week applies to 52 shelters that ing more of them to their families. Supremacy Clause, which says fed-
are licensed by the state but funded eral law takes precedence over state
In a letter obtained by The Associated with federal grants. It argues that fed- However, as of Sunday, there are still or local laws.
Press, the deputy general counsel for eral law states these migrant children about 16,000 children in HHS cus-
the U.S. Department of Health and “do not accrue unlawful presence” tody, and the federal government has The order to strip away licenses from
Human Services told the Republican while they are in the United States, struggled to increase the number of shelters is part of a disaster declara-
governor that even though the state challenging Abbott’s labeling of these beds in licensed shelters, which are tion Abbott issued last week, arguing
issues the licenses for the shelter, children as “unlawful immigrants.” preferred by advocates. the federal government can’t force
Congress has tasked his agency with Texas to keep issuing state licenses in
caring for unaccompanied children. More than half of migrant children The so-called emergency intake sites response to a federal problem. The
sheltered by the U.S. government in were opened beginning in March at proclamation was a highly unusual
He warned Abbott not to interfere licensed facilities are in Texas. The convention centers, military bases move by the governor that comes
with those operations and said HHS last census taken on May 19 showed and other large venues. They look amid criticism of record numbers of
intends to pursue legal action if the 4,223 children in the facilities of like hurricane evacuation shelters, border crossings in recent months.
state proceeds to close the shelters about 7,000 in the entire network of with little space to play and no pri-
down. licensed shelters. vacy. Advocates and lawmakers who More recently, Abbott is saying that
have visited have voiced concerns state troopers will soon begin arrest-
“(The Office of Refugee Resettle- Experts and advocates say shutting about the children’s mental health. ing migrants at the border, promising
ment) operates 52 state-licensed fa- down these shelters could seriously an announcement later this week.
cilities in Texas, which comprise a disrupt the program for unaccompa- Abbott also has been critical of emer-
significant portion of ORR’s total op- nied children, which already faces ca- gency facilities that lack state licenses, The letter sent Monday was addressed
erational footprint, and represent an pacity problems forcing the govern- but advocates say his directive could to Abbott, Texas Deputy Secretary
indispensable component of the fed- ment to open up a dozen emergency transfer more children to the large- of State Jose Esparza and Executive
eral immigration system,” Paul Ro- sites to process thousands of children. scale sites. Commissioner of Texas Health and
driguez, HHS deputy general coun- Human Services Cecil Erwin Young.

Oregon lawmaker faces expulsion in assault on state Capitol

(AP) — A Republican controlled House expel Rep. Nearman to step down, his officers who finally expelled egon Constitution, which
state lawmaker faces be- Mike Nearman if two-thirds fate appeared sealed. If he them. Outside, protesters empowers the House to pun-
ing expelled from office of its members vote in favor. does not resign, there was lit- broke windows on the Capi- ish a representative for disor-
after a video emerged ap- She appointed a committee tle doubt that an overwhelm- tol and assaulted journalists. derly behavior.
parently showing him to consider the matter. ing number of House mem-
choreographing how he bers would vote to cast him Later, security camera video Nearman also faces two mis-
would let far-right pro- GOP members of the House out. emerged showing Nearman demeanor criminal charges
testers into the closed Or- also wrote a letter to Near- opening a door to the Capi- and has said he will seek a
egon Capitol days before man on Monday, saying he Nearman himself said Mon- tol, which was closed to the trial by jury.
he did so in December. should step down. day he believes there are public because of the pan-
enough votes to expel him, demic, allowing protesters to He didn’t respond to messag-
The crowd entered the build- The lawmakers were refer- which he said would make enter. Nearman allegedly told es seeking comment Monday.
ing during an emergency ring to video that emerged him the first House member people in a video days earlier A woman sitting at a desk in
legislative session, and some late Friday in local news re- to be expelled by its members that he would let them in if the anteroom of his Capitol
sprayed chemical irritants at ports that appeared to show in Oregon history. He joked they texted him, and he pro- office said the lawmaker was
police. Nearman coaching constitu- in a call to the Lars Larson vided his cellphone number. not present. She refused to
ents on how to text him so Show, a conservative talk ra- The existence of the video comment, went into Near-
On Monday, Oregon House they could get into the Capi- dio program, that this would was first reported Friday by man’s office and shut the
Speaker Tina Kotek in- tol. eventually make him the Oregon Public Broadcasting. door.
troduced a resolution that subject of a question on TV’s
would have the Democrat- With Republicans calling for “Jeopardy!” In her resolution, Kotek said Kotek said police in the state
personnel who were autho- Capitol prevented the situa-
The incident on Dec. 21 rized to be in the Oregon tion from escalating.
rattled lawmakers and staff Capitol described Dec. 21 as
inside the Capitol and fore- intense and stressful, terrify- “As we saw in January at the
shadowed the Jan. 6 assault ing and distressing. U.S. Capitol, the ramifica-
on the U.S. Capitol by riot- tions could have been dire
ers spurred on by then Presi- “The severity of Representa- if law enforcement had not
dent Donald Trump. Several tive Nearman’s actions and stepped in so quickly,” Kotek
of those who were among last week’s revelation that said.
the crowds in Salem on Dec. they were premeditated re-
21 later were in Washington quire a special committee to Members of the new com-
during the U.S. Capitol at- immediately consider expel- mittee are Rep. Paul Holvey,
tack. ling him from the House of D-Eugene; Rep. Christine
Representatives,” Kotek said. Drazan, R-Canby; Rep. Bar-
As lawmakers met in emer- “He knowingly put the phys- bara Smith Warner, D-Port-
gency session on Dec. 21 to ical safety of everyone in the land; Rep. Daniel Bonham,
deal with economic fallout Capitol — lawmakers, staff R-The Dalles; Rep. Andrea
from the coronavirus pan- and law enforcement — in Salinas, D-Lake Oswego; and
demic, far-right rioters en- jeopardy.” Rep. Duane Stark, R-Grants
tered the building. They Pass.
sprayed chemical irritants at Her resolution cites the Or-