‘Birth tourism’ in Trump administration’s sights after supreme court setback | First Thing
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The acting attorney general, Todd Blanche, has said federal prosecutors and law enforcement officers will focus on combating so-called “birth tourism” – which involves tourists, temporary visitors, or undocumented immigrants traveling to the US primarily to give birth and and secure birthright citizenship for their children.
Blanche’s statement comes a day after the US supreme court upheld the constitutional guarantee of birthright citizenship.
During the oral arguments in the Trump v Barbara case in April, the government’s lawyer D John Sauer conceded that no one knew for sure how significant a problem “birth tourism” actually was. Donald Trump is now pushing for lawmakers to create new legislation that establishes exceptions to birthright citizenship for children born to parents who do not have permanent legal status in the US.
What did Blanche say? “There’s other things … the federal government can do in the visa process, and the application process, to try to minimize or limit the opportunity of folks coming here not to visit, and not to do what they’re saying they’re doing on the tourist visa, but just to have a baby that can then be a US citizen. What we have to do as Department of Justice is make sure our agents … and the FBI are focused on stopping that.”
US judge blocks Trump attempt to limit mail-in voting
In a judicial setback for Donald Trump and his administration, a federal judge blocked a proposed restriction on mail-in voting across the US. Judge Emmet Sullivan of the US district court for the District of Columbia ruled that a US Postal Service plan to deny ballots to voters in states that did not turn over their voter rolls to the federal government should not proceed.
The ruling bars the postal service from enforcing an executive order issued by Trump in March that called for sweeping changes to the administration of elections nationwide.
How have activists responded? Anthony Ashton, the senior associate general counsel at the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said “This ruling is a critical step in protecting the rights of voters. The proposed USPS changes would have created unnecessary and unlawful barriers, in direct violation of the USPS’s mandate to prioritize election mail. Those barriers could have disproportionately harmed Black voters, who are more likely to rely on mail voting due to longstanding inequities in access.”
At least 18 killed in Russian drone and missile attacks on Kyiv
At least 18 people have been killed and dozens injured overnight in Kyiv, local authorities said, as Russia launched its latest massive drone and missile attack on the Ukrainian capital. Fires were burning at sites across Kyiv as dawn broke, with strikes or debris hitting residential buildings in several districts and a hotel on one of the city’s central boulevards. The death toll may rise, as local emergency services said 86 people were injured, 70 of whom had been admitted to hospital.
Meanwhile, Russia faces fuel shortages after a Ukrainian campaign of long-range drone strikes against oil refineries in the country. Multiple Russian regions have been forced to introduce gasoline rationing, while in occupied Crimea, Russian authorities have declared a state of emergency.
How is Ukraine portraying its attacks on Russian targets? The Ukrainian foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, said on social media: “In this war there is an aggressor and a country defending itself. Russia has no right to make any strikes against Ukraine, while Ukraine has every right to respond, and strike any legitimate military targets in Russia. Do not equate an aggressor and a country defending from aggression.”
Sixteen children were rescued from a dilapidated home in rural Ohio after being confined to just one room in “deplorable conditions” for much of the past four years.
Ten people accused of facilitating a sex-trafficking operation that targeted about 51 girls and women have been arrested in California.
Sony is to stop releasing physical copies of new video games for the PlayStation console in January 2028, saying the move reflects a shift in consumer preferences.
Stat of the day: OpenAI ‘in early talks to give 5% stake to US government’
OpenAI is reportedly in early stage talks to give a 5% stake in the ChatGPT developer to the US government. The OpenAI chief executive, Sam Altman, has argued that giving the US public a financial stake in the company is the best way to share the benefits of AI.
The Filter Recommends: 12 things experts want you to know about wearing sleep masks
Juno DeMelo asked sleep experts – plus a dermatologist and ophthalmologist – what we need to know about sleep masks, including the crucial issue: can they give you zits? Once you have digested that, her review of the best sleep masks is here.
Don’t miss this: The Harvard astronomer dubbed Trump’s chief alien hunter starts by assuming UFOs human-made
I must confess to have been endlessly fascinated by UFOs my whole life, and in this piece Richard Luscombe profiles Avi Loeb, a Harvard University cosmologist who has suggested alien lifeforms could be sailing into the solar system disguised as meteors. He is now leading the Trump administration’s new scientific advisory panel on security risks posed by UFOs. Loeb believes “government is baffled by not being able to infer the nature of some of these objects”. Intriguing.
… or this: Three ways to fix the US supreme court, with Elie Mystal
Climate check: Scientists fear seabird die-off as El Niño looms
Scientists and volunteers have been conducting monthly surveys of dead seabirds and have found what marine ornithologist Tammy Russell describes as a grim assessment of the impact of a massive marine heatwave that has lingered for months off parts of the California coast. Scientists fear the die-off could worsen with the recently formed El Niño, the natural warming of parts of the central Pacific that alters weather worldwide and spikes global temperatures.
Last Thing: The Greek priest whose doom metal album is the year’s hippest record
Dressed in long black robes and sporting a fine grey wispy beard, Father Dionysios Tabakis says: “The guitar was made by God. The devil cannot create something. God has created all.” His home-recorded album of doom metal, Christmas carols and religious dubstep has catapulted him from utter obscurity to cult status. “I feel very awkward,” he says in this interview by Fonie Mitsopoulou. “But if it brings people joy, then I’m for it.”
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