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It is no secret that many progressives are not exactly enthusiastic about supporting Joe Biden in the upcoming election. To be sure, Biden has staked out a position firmly on the partys moderate wing during his almost 50 years of public service. However, often overlooked by both the media and voters alike during the frenzied circus that is an American presidential election is the importance of presidential appointees in shaping the administrations agenda.

In fact, Cabinet members and other executive branch appointees often exert substantial influence over executive branch policies. One need only observe the chaos wrought by Trump-appointed Postmaster General Louis DeJoy to understand the power wielded even by less prominent appointees. But just as Trump has the ability to appoint dangerous and unqualified sycophants to the executive branch, a President Biden would be able to right many of the dangerous actions taken by Trump Cabinet members.

Fortunately for progressives, if history is any guide, many of Bidens Cabinet appointees will be substantially more left-wing than the candidate himself. Neither of the partys past two presidents, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, were exactly darlings of the left. However, despite hailing from the partys moderate wing, both appointed influential progressive figures to key Cabinet positions.

Bill Clinton was the figurehead of the New Democrats, a centrist faction of the Democratic Party that sought to move the party in a more moderate direction. Despite this, many of Clintons Cabinet appointees were significantly to his left. One example was Robert Reich, the Secretary of Labor during Clintons first term. Reich was an early advocate of a universal basic income, and successfully pushed for a raise to the federal minimum wage while in office. Since leaving office he has been a voice for progressive labor reform and (surprise!) endorsed Bernie Sanders for president in 2016 and 2020.

Another progressive Clinton administration official was Carol Browner, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator for the entirety of his eight years in office. She was a strong advocate for reducing air pollution, and almost single-handedly fought against opposition from Congress and White House economic advisors to convince Clinton to significantly tighten restrictions on permissible levels of ground-level ozone. For this achievement, which led to dramatically reduced smog levels in U.S. cities, she was dubbed the Queen of Clean Air by Time Magazine. She was also the first EPA director to take direct action to reduce carbon emissions and has been a vocal proponent of the Green New Deal.

The Obama administration also contained prominent progressives, the most notable being Julian Castro, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). While at HUD, Castro took significant steps to finally fully implement the Fair Housing Act of 1968, which prevents discrimination in the sale or rental of homes, and made ending homelessness a top priority. Castro later ran for president on a bold progressive platform emphasizing comprehensive immigration reform before eventually endorsing Elizabeth Warren.

So, what will a Biden Cabinet look like? It will certainly contain its fair share of moderates. But if Bill Clintons administration contained progressives at a time when they made up a much smaller portion of his constituency, they will likely be even more heavily represented in Bidens Cabinet. This is evidenced by Bidens transition team itself, which includes Julie Siegal, a senior Elizabeth Warren advisor, and Gautam Raghavan, chief of staff to Rep. Pramila Jayapal, the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

Senator Warren herself, a leader of the progressive wing of the party, has been described as a virtual lock for a Cabinet position if she wants one. Her potential selection as Treasury Secretary would give her significant influence in the White House, with Biden likely delegating to her primary responsibility for financial and economic policy, according to one research firm. While this would be cause for consternation on Wall Street, it would be a welcome change for many progressives who have been calling for increased financial regulation for years.

Other potential administration officials could do much to advance the policy goals of the progressive movement without either of its preferred candidates at the top of the ticket. Washington Governor Jay Inslee, who made climate change the central issue of his 2020 presidential campaign, would be a breath of fresh air after the current EPA Administrator, Andrew Wheeler, who was a coal lobbyist before taking office. Appointing an Attorney General like Vanita Gupta, the former head of the Justice Departments Civil Rights Division and staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), would be a similarly welcome departure from the demagoguery of William Barr and show the Biden Justice Departments commitment to voting rights reform and upholding civil liberties.

In sum, there is much for progressives to look forward to in a potential Biden administration. Indeed, these potential picks are evidence of the success of working within the Democratic party to achieve progressive goals rather than rejecting the party. The successful presidential bids of Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren allowed them and their staffs to influence the future Biden administration precisely because they proved they represented a substantial portion of the partys voter base. A progressive Cabinet member will be in a substantially better position to influence policy than a failed third-party candidate. And, until Democrats nominate a progressive candidate, it will give the movement something to get excited about: a voice.

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Progressives should be heartened by a Biden cabinet - Miscellany News

Senator Kamala Harris is Joe Bidens pick for vice president. The vice president could play amore important role on immigration than in prior presidencies, so its important to understand Sen. Harriss plans on this issue. From alibertarian perspective, legalizing the act of crossing borders should be the main focus of immigration reform, not merely legalizing those who have already done so. While she generally agrees with making legal immigration easier, Sen. Harris clearly disagrees with the libertarian prioritization of the issue.

Overall, Harris generally adopts the same proimmigration agenda of Biden. But in the primaries and now, Bidens plan was more clearly prolegal immigration than Harris whose plan barely mentions the subject. Her plan mostly details how she would use executive authorities to allow illegal immigrants to obtain legal status or deferred action. This reflectsthe majority of her time in the Senate, which has focused mainly on the treatment of illegal immigrants in the United States. This is areversal from her time as aprosecutor where she worked with ICE to deport juveniles who were not charged with afelony.

On legal immigration, she wrote only that shell reverse President Trumps Muslim Ban on Day One and fix the family visa backlog. The family visa backlog has nearly 4million immigrants in it, but Harris didnt explain what her fix would be. Biden has suggested exempting some categories from the caps and providing temporary visas to those in the backlog so that they can wait in the United States.

She is the lead Democrat sponsoring the Fairness for High Skilled Immigrants Act in the Senate. The legislationwhich Ihave written about in detailwould repeal the employmentbased country caps that cause Indian foreign workers to face anear century long wait for agreen card. The fact that she was willing to sponsor this bill demonstrates alevel of awareness about the problems facing skilled legal immigrants. She was also an original cosponsor of the NO BAN Act (which Ihave written about here) that restricts presidential authority to ban legal immigrants.

There are some points of concern. Her focus on executive action may imply that she believes aBiden administration should be less willing to compromise with Congress to make adeal. She was also one of just three Democrats to vote against abipartisan immigration bill in the Senate in 2018 that would have given President Trump congressional appropriations to build his border wall in exchange for apath to citizenship for most immigrants brought to the United States as children. ThenVox reporter Dara Lind correctly called it the Senates last best hope for immigration reform. The bill failed by 6votes.

She has also basically said that she will act on behalf of labor unions, stating a commitment to fight for organized labor. This is concerning because labor unions vehemently oppose all forms of temporary worker programs, which are the primary or, for unskilled workers, the only means for foreign workers to enter the United States for work. She led an effort to stop the Trump administrations only mildly proimmigration reforms of the H-2A program and has introduced legislation to require all farmers to pay overtime to farm workers.

On the other hand, Bidens plan called the current temporary workers cumbersome, bureaucratic, and inflexible and promised to protect or expand them (with normal caveats about protecting U.S. workers).

She also advocates an increase in the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour, which the Congressional Budget Office and others have found would destroy 1.3 million lowskilled jobsdisproportionately among immigrant communities. It would price out many future immigrants from being able to come to the United States to work legally. Californias high minimum wage is likely one reason why its share of the illegal population has halved since 1990.

Harris also advocates for expanding Medicare to include all illegal and legal immigrantsa policy that Biden opposesin her Medicare for All plan (also opposed by Biden). There is some evidence that expansion of welfare benefits makes no difference to poverty rates among immigrants. Theres also evidence that government health insurance has no significant effects on health outcomes, despite increasing usage. This policy is anathema not only to conservatives, but moderate Republicans and libertarians as well. If she insisted on it, it would doom any compromise on immigration (as asimilar health care issue did in the House in 2013).

Harriss criminal justice record as aprosecutor was also extremely poor from alibertarian perspective, and given the criminalization of various immigration violations, this could be important as well. While she mostly disavows this record today, she still touts her prosecution of employers whoin her wordsexploit illegal immigrant workers, but often that can amount to simply denying immigrants the ability to work for anyone.

Overall, Harris will likely advocate for the rights of immigrants already in the United States to live and work here without federal interference. She would push Biden to immediately undo all the harm the current president has done to the legal immigration system. But she hasnt shown much interest in fixing the legal immigration system, and her positions toward guest workers are concerning. Her votes on Dreamers in 2018 indicate an unwillingness to compromise even when her own party wants her to. Her executive action plans and extreme left policies on health care make it uncertain whether she would be willing to compromise with Congress to make permanent changes that benefit immigrants and Americans.

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Kamala Harris on Immigration from a Libertarian Perspective - Cato Institute

Mireya Reith and Lawrence Benito, Opinion contributors Published 6:00 a.m. ET Aug. 12, 2020 | Updated 10:19 a.m. ET Aug. 12, 2020

After 9/11, the U.S. enforced stricter control on immigration. This enforcement led to the birth of Homeland Security and ICE, but what is ICE exactly? We explain. USA TODAY

Our vibrant immigrant community doesnt have to remain a vulnerable population.

States like Arizona,Florida andTexas have madeheadlines as ones that could turn the tide against President Donald Trumps reelection for his negligent handling of the coronavirus outbreak. But dig deeper into this latest spike in the Sun Belt and youll find another story: one of a virus devastating our immigrant communities.

Some of the most harrowing scenes are in migrant camps and detention centers inU.S.-Mexico border states. More crowded than ever, detention centers which are often unsanitary, lack basic necessities like soap and deny people basic medical care are obvious hotbeds for the disease. Thefirst cases of the virus recently wereconfirmed at a largemigration encampment on the border, where Trumps shutdown of the asylum process has caused people to be stuck for months in places where social distancing is nearly impossible.

For those not trapped in detention, many are on the front linesworkingessential jobs. But the title of essential bears no protection for these low-wage workers. Theirimmigrationstatus takes precedence, and they are left out of the resources that federal and state governments have offered others: protective gear, hazard pay, paid leave and unemployment insurance.

In ArkansasandIllinois, the states we call home, meatpacking plants have been at the center of outbreaks. In these facilities, workers, with little to no benefits like sick leave or disability, stand elbow to elbow in assembly lines.Immigrants make up30%of the industrys workforce in the United States,and many of theundocumented families will go hungry without financial assistance.

DACA recipient surprised and relieved at Supreme Court decision, but vows to concentrate on permanent protection for immigrants. (June 18) AP Domestic

Even those undocumented immigrants who are noton the front lines still face grave danger if they contract the virus they either cannot afford to pay out-of-pocket costs for a doctor, or are tooafraid to get testedor go to hospitals for fear of being exposed and ending up in detention.

Across the nation, we see the consequences of inhumaneimmigrationpolicies that leave families without protection, resources or access to care. But our vibrant immigrant community doesnt have to remain a vulnerable population.

We have the power to create a system where all of us are afforded basic human rights. We saw a glimpse of that power with theSupreme Court decision in favor of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. For a brief moment, 650,000 young immigrants could breathe a sigh of relief as their status was protected. It was a monumental feat of organizing by the immigrant community.

But Trumps reaction told us all we need to know about half-measures.He called the court's decision and one in favor of rights for LGBTQ workers shotgun blasts into the face of Republicans. And his plans forimmigrationpolicyif he were to wina second term are terrifying.

If we want to ensure immigrants are offered the full breadth of human rights and no longer remain pawns in a political game, we must pass animmigrationplan that createsan accessible, equitable road map to full citizenship.

The first step is to reimagine what safety for all of us looks like. That means ending family separation and reuniting those who have been torn apart by deportation. It also requires us to reverse provisions of the Illegal ImmigrationReform and Immigration Responsibility Act that strip due process and criminalize immigrants. We need to keep enforcement agencies out of schools, courtrooms and places of worship. And we must take the financial incentive out of detention, end private detention centers and instead invest in community-based alternatives to detention.

Immigration activists rallied outside the Supreme Court in April as the justices heard arguments on the Trump administration's plan to ask about citizenship in the 2020 census.(Photo: J. Scott Applewhite, AP)

True safety goes beyond dismantling violentimmigrationenforcement. It also requires that we create the conditions where immigrant communities can thrive. That includes equitable access to health care, higher education andaffordable housing, and access to benefits that they are already paying for through taxes. And as an essential workforce, immigrants must be protected when they report labor violations.

Seventy-five percentof Americans across the political spectrum believe thatimmigrationis good for the United States. And theyre right. Immigrants make us stronger, more diverse and more innovative. So not only do we have a moral obligation to treat people who have migrated with dignity, but we have the political and electoral power to do so.

We should createthe conditions to build up ourimmigrationsystem, not tear it apart. We can change the U.S. immigrant story from one of a community ravaged by violent policiesand a deadly virus, to one that is vibrant and living in harmony with all of us who want to create a brighter future for the next generation.

Mireya Reith and Lawrence Benito are co-chairs of the Fair Immigration Reform Movement.

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Many immigrants live in fear, lack basic rights: We have the power to change the system. - USA TODAY

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Former President George W. Bush is publishing a new book Out Of Many, One: Portraits of Americas Immigrants, the announcement Thursday from publisher Crown comes as the Trump administration continues to take a strong stance on immigration in the lead-up to the 2020 election.

Former President George W. Bush waves at the crowd during a football game in 2019.

The book includes 43 portraits the 43rd president painted of immigrants he knows, as well as biographical essays he wrote about each person.

Bush writes in the introduction obtained by AP News, that while he acknowledges that immigration can be an emotional issue he does not believe it is a partisan issue, adding, It is perhaps the most American of issues, and it should be one that unites us.

Bush notes in the introduction that he did not want the book to be published during the election season he has yet to endorse Trump or the presumptive Democratic nominee former Vice President Joe Biden.

The book and an accompanying exhibition at the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas will include bold, principle-based solutions that comprehensively address the current debate on immigration, Crown said in a statement.

The former president will donate a portion of the books earnings to organizations that help immigrants resettle, although the advance amount and other financial details have not been disclosed.

Since leaving the White House, Bush has written three bestsellers: his presidential memoir Decision Points, a biography of his father former President George H.W. Bush 41 and Portraits of Courage, a collection of oil paintings and stories honoring American military veterans.

While in office, Bush pushed forward a comprehensive immigration reform bill in 2007 that wasnt passed. It would have offered legal status to millions of illegal immigrants while trying to secure the nations borders. The vote was criticized by conservatives who thought it was a form of amnesty for lawbreakers, and his views continue to differ with some conservatives. At a naturalization ceremony at George W. Bush Presidential Center last March, he said, "America's elected representatives have a duty to regulate who comes in and when," adding, "In meeting this responsibility, it helps to remember that America's immigrant history made us who we are. Amid all the complications of policy, may we never forget that immigration is a blessing and a strength."

At its core, immigration is a sign of a confident and successful nation. Immigrants' talent and hard work and love of freedom have helped us become the leader of the world, Bush has said.

Former President Bush pays tribute to immigrants in new book (AP News)

Immigration Bill Fails to Survive Senate Vote (New York Times)

Bush: Immigration is a Blessing and a Strength (US News)

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New Bush Book Will Include His Paintings Of Immigrants - Forbes

A new book by former President George W. Bush will highlight an issue which now sets him apart from many of his fellow Republicans immigration.

Crown announced Thursday that Bushs Out Of Many, One: Portraits of Americas Immigrants will be published March 2. The book includes 43 portraits by the 43rd president, four-color paintings of immigrants he has come to know over the years, along with biographical essays he wrote about each of them.

Bush, who served as president from 2001-2009, has often praised the contributions of immigrants, a notable contrast to President Donald Trumps rhetoric and policies. As president, Bush supported a bipartisan immigration reform bill that narrowly failed to pass in 2007, with opposition coming from both liberals and conservatives.

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While I recognize that immigration can be an emotional issue, I reject the premise that it is a partisan issue. It is perhaps the most American of issues, and it should be one that unites us, Bush writes in the new books introduction, noting that he did not want it to come out during the election season. Bush has not endorsed Trump or his presumptive Democratic opponent, former Vice President Joe Biden.

My hope is that this book will help focus our collective attention on the positive impacts that immigrants are making on our country."

The book will serve as a companion to an upcoming exhibition at the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas.

Both Out of Many, One and the exhibition of the same name will include bold, principle-based solutions that comprehensively address the current debate on immigration, according to Crown. At the heart of the recommendations is the belief that every year that passes without reforming the nations broken system means missed opportunities to ensure the future prosperity, vitality, and security of our country.

Bush has become a dedicated portrait painter and best-selling author since leaving the White House. His memoir Decision Points has sold more than 3 million copies, and his other books include 41, about his father, former President George H.W. Bush; and a collection of paintings of military veterans, Portraits of Courage.

He will donate a portion of his Out Of Many, One proceeds to organizations that help immigrants resettle. Financial terms were otherwise not disclosed. Bush was represented by Robert Barnett, the Washington attorney whose other clients have included former President Barack Obama and former President Bill Clinton.

The book will be released as a standard trade hardcover and in an autographed deluxe edition, listed for $250, that will be clothbound and contained within a slipcover.

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Bush to publish book with his paintings of 43 immigrants - NBC News