This is the fourth edition of the Biden Tracking Weekly newsletter. This week, the Biden administration appealed a court order ending Title 42, we got an extension of Temporary Protected Status for Haitians, and news on why the Biden Admin decided to approve the nation’s largest oil export terminal off the Gulf Coast of Texas. It is Monday, December 12th, Day 692 of the Biden presidency.
Monday, December 5th (Day 685)
Biden Extends Temporary Protected Status for 100,000 Haitians in the U.S.
On Monday, the Biden Administration granted Temporary Protected Status to 100,000 Haitians living in the United States. The status allows these Haitians the chance to apply for work permits and protection from deportation back to Haiti. Currently, 101,000 Haitians have this protection, and an additional 53,000 have applications pending. The Biden administration extended protections for these people until August 2024. With pressure for this move mostly coming from the left, this offers some hope that the Biden administration is listening to left-wing advocates.
Wednesday, December 7th (Day 687)
Biden Administration Approved Plans To Build Oil Expert Terminal Following Federal Lobbying
In last week’s newsletter, we discussed the Biden administration quietly approving plans to build the nation’s largest oil export terminal off the Gulf Coast of Texas. On Wednesday, Open Secrets gave some insight into why. Enterprise Productions, the company that applied to build the terminal, spent nearly $3 million lobbying the federal government during the four years its proposal has been under review. The Maritime Administration projects that oil processed at the Sea Port Oil Terminal would release the greenhouse gas equivalent of 233 million tons of carbon dioxide per year — about 4% of total U.S. emissions reported by the EPA in 2020. This isn’t unusual, but it is the unfortunate reality that the Biden Administration is more interested in money than the destruction of our planet.
In an unusual move, Axios reported on Wednesday, that the Biden Administration was pressing UN human rights chief Volker Türk not to expand the list of companies that operate in the Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. The list was last updated in February 2020. Of the 112 companies named, only 5 (Booking, Airbnb, TripAdvisor, Expedia, and General Mills) were American. It is unclear at this point why the Biden administration felt this move was necessary.
Biden Administration Appeals Ruling Ordering the End of Title 42
The Biden Administration, in a court document on Wednesday, announced they would be appealing a ruling from a federal judge that ended Title 42. Title 42 is the portion of the United States Code that allows immigration officials to expel migrants without an Asylum hearing. However, the Biden Administration’s appeal is slightly complicated. They asked the judge to put the appeal on hold until the result of a separate appeal in Louisiana v. CDC. That was the ruling that halted the Biden administration’s first attempt to end the policy in April 2022. If the Biden Administration wins that appeal, which would let them go through with their April ending of the policy, then the Biden administration will not appeal this case. But if they lose that appeal, they will continue this appeal. It seems that the Biden Administration is not defending the current implementation of Title 42, but its power to use it. The Biden administration did not ask for a stay in their appeal, which would have allowed Title 42 to continue past its December 21st ordered ending. The code, in its most basic form, allows the rapid expulsion of migrants from areas considered at high risk of disease. However, in my opinion, this too is indefensible. Asylum seekers from these high disease-risk countries are often in the most need of Asylum, and other prevention methods can be used to mitigate disease threats while not denying migrants their international right to Asylum.
Title 42 is likely to end on December 21st. The only way it wouldn’t would be a stay in the Louisiana v. CDC., or a stay, or even a successful appeal, by Republican governors in this most recent case.
Friday, December 9th (Day 689)
On Friday, 72 congresspeople, led by Senator Bernie Sanders, sent a letter to President Biden urging him to sign an executive order mandating paid sick leave for rail workers. In last week’s newsletter, I discussed that this would be an incredibly easy way for the Biden administration to give sick leave to rail workers, that, notably, didn’t involve Republicans. The letter also gives some non-executive order alternatives, they include amending The Occupational Safety and Health Act, which gives the secretary of labor the ability to impose safety standards on any business involved in interstate commerce, or the secretary of transportation using the Federal Railroad Safety Act to pass a rule requiring sick days as a means to reduce accidents, injuries, and deaths. The fact that 72 congresspeople are on board with this suggests that there is some hope that the Biden Administration could make this move. But I never try to get my hopes up too much.
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