January 19, 2019

Trump’s Plan to End the Shutdown Is Already Getting Terrible Reviews

Democrats push back against an expected proposal that would fund a border wall.

Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP

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This afternoon, President Donald Trump is expected to propose an deal that would exchange $5.7 billion in border wall funding for his support of the BRIDGE Act, which would extend protections to Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients and give temporary protective status for refugees. The proposal marks the latest attempt to end the partial government shutdown, which is entering its fifth week. But even before Trump has officially proposed the plan, it’s getting a rocky response, especially from Democrats.

Congressional aides told the New York Times that House Democrats haven’t been consulted on the plan and would only negotiate with Trump once the government is reopened.

Others noted that under the current law, Dreamers who renew their DACA permits in nine months already get two more years of protection. 

The expected proposal also got pushback from the Federation for American Immigration Reform, an anti-immigrant group, which seemed to equate the extension of DACA protections as “amnesty”:

Trump’s speech, which was originally scheduled for 3p.m. Eastern, has been bumped back to 4p.m.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

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