Inside the massive coordinated push to make sure a census citizenship question doesn’t “distort democracy”
Right now, the highest-profile issue before the US Supreme Court is whether the Trump administration can add a question to the 2020 census asking people about their citizenship status.
That’s because civil rights groups worry that the question would discourage noncitizen immigrants, from undocumented people to green card holders and people on other visas, from taking part in the census.
So the Trump administration’s decision to ask the citizenship question has pushed a national coalition of civil rights advocacy groups to build a coordinated effort to make sure immigrants and their families are counted by the US government.
The consequences of the question are significant: If its presence in the census has a chilling effect, it may lead to an inaccurate census — and the survey is used to make major decisions throughout government, including determining congressional representation.
Three US–Mexico border stories you need to know about
First: A tragic story — two infants, a toddler and a 20-year-old woman were found dead in the boiling heat at the US border. Their bodies were found near the Rio Grande River in Texas. It appears as though the woman and three children died from dehydration and heat exposure, a US official said. All four were undocumented immigrants.
Second: Hundreds of migrant children are being moved out of a filthy overcrowded Border Patrol station. The children were removed after attorneys who visited the Clint, Texas facility described children caring for infants and toddlers, a lack of access to soap and toothbrushes, and inadequate food, water, and sanitation.
Third: Mexico is deploying 15,000 troops to the border to stop immigrants from reaching the US. The unprecedented troop deployment comes amid intense pressure from the Trump administration to reduce migration flows.
SNAPSHOTS
Former prep school student Owen Labrie was released from jail for good behavior in his sexual assault case. Labrie was accused of luring a 15-year-old student to the top of a building at the elite St. Paul’s School in 2014 and raping her. The most serious charges were dropped. He was released from jail months early on good behavior.
Most LGBTQ Americans actually love having cops and corporations in Pride parades. We partnered with Whitman Insight Strategies and did a national poll for pride. The results tell us LGBTQ people overestimate their share of the population and say Instagram makes them sad.
Parents are beating their toddler’s stuffed animals to coerce their kids to eat, but one dad has had enough. After several videos went viral of parents inflicting violence upon stuffed animals to convince their kids to eat — I also wish I didn’t just read that — one Orlando dad’s response to the bad trend warmed people’s hearts.
Not everyone believes Tana Mongeau and Jake Paul’s engagement is real. After a few months of dating, the YouTube stars are apparently engaged. A lot of people assumed this was a stunt. It might be because we are finally starting to see the truth about influencers.
TikTok has a predator problem. A network of young women is fighting back.
TikTok has exploded in popularity over the last few months as the social media platform makes itself more attractive to a younger audience. That popularity has brought with it a sexual predator problem.
One of the most popular kinds of videos from TikTok’s users, who are mostly young and female, are lip-synch videos, where they dance and sing along with their favorite songs. These performances are sometimes sexualized by older men who lurk on the app, sometimes sending the young creators explicit messages.
Now, a network of young women have created an ad hoc system of screenshot leaks and callout videos meant to out abusers and predators.
They say they have to protect each other on TikTok because they don’t have faith in the company’s ability to keep its users safe.
The story behind the viral Twitter thread about what it takes to be Beyoncé assistant
Could you make it a day as Beyoncé’s assistant without getting fired?
I spend a significant amount of time on Twitter, and I’ve rarely had as much fun as I did while reading the viral thread asking this question. It’s a choose-your-own adventure thread that unfurls, giving you options on how to handle running Bey’s day.
People really loved the thread — even Chrissy Teigen said she only made it a few rounds, and her own assistant got fired on the first round.
We spoke to Landon Rivera, the 19-year-old who created it. He told us he spent 5 hours writing it. He also told us he’s floored by the attention, and a couple of writers have even reached out to him about pitching a show.