This summary was featured in Documented’s Early Arrival newsletter. You can subscribe to receive it in your inbox three times per week here.
Three states have agreed to share driver’s license information with the U.S. Census Bureau to help the Trump administration count how many U.S. residents are noncitizens. Until recently, Nebraska had been the only state to sign the agreement. “Their task is to create a nationwide database, so having three relatively small states provide them records doesn’t get them very far as to what they want to do. They need a nationwide database,” Thomas Saenz, president and general counsel of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund. “I don’t know what it shows other than if I were in one of those states, I would be angry that the state is offering up my information without my permission.” The Associated Press
In other national immigration news…
Judge Stops GEO Group from Converting Prison into Immigration Detention Center
A federal judge has issued a temporary restraining order against the city of McFarland, California, and the private prison operator GEO Group, blocking the use of two state prisons to detain immigrants for ICE. U.S. District Judge Troy Nunley, of the Eastern District of California, granted the request of Immigrant Legal Resource Center and Freedom for Immigrants, who say the city of McFarland improperly approved permit changes to convert the detention facilities. The McFarland Planning Commission originally rejected GEO’s proposal in February, but the decision was overturned on appeal by the city council in late April. The Bakersfield Californian
Libel Lawsuit Against MSNBC Host Allowed to Proceed
MSNBC host Joy Reid may have libeled a woman on Twitter by retweeting a photograph of her supposedly yelling “You are going to be the first deported” and “dirty Mexican” at a boy at a California city council meeting, when video footage showed a very different scene. The woman, Roslyn La Liberte, who was wearing a Make America Great Again hat, says the exchange she had with the teenager was inspiring and ended in a hug. The tweet Reid retweeted included the caption “This woman needs to be put on blast.” La Liberte’s original complaint in the Eastern District of New York was shot down, but she appealed to the Second Circuit, which allowed her to proceed. Courthouse News
CBP did not Provide Consistent Medical Care, Report Finds
CBP did not provide consistent medical care to migrants in custody and sometimes failed to properly report deaths, according to a Government Accountability Office report released on Wednesday. Three children died in CBP custody at the U.S.–Mexico border between December 2018 and May 2019, when there was an increase in the number of people attempting to cross, stretching government facilities. The GAO found that some CBP facilities in South Texas were not conducting health interviews and medical assessments. Flu vaccines were also not being offered despite guidance from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. CNN
Judge Extends Deadline for Children to be Released
A federal judge on Thursday gave ICE more time to release children who were in its custody. Last month, U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee ordered ICE to release all children who were in family detention centers by July 17 due to the risks of catching COVID-19, which has spread rapidly in ICE detention. It now has until July 27 to comply with the order. Children can either be released with a parent or to a sponsor while parents remain in ICE custody, if a parent does not consent to release their child to a suitable sponsor, a child can remain detained. BuzzFeed News
