Mediaboss Marketing

In Michigan, however, Mr. El-Sayed is counting on a mood of ideological ambition to decide his primary: He remains an underdog, facing a well-funded rival in Ms. Whitmer, who is backed by powerful labor unions like the United Auto Workers. She has led in recent polls, while a third candidate, Shri Thanedar, a wealthy wild card, has complicated the race.

Aiming to build momentum, Mr. El-Sayed will campaign later this month with Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, to whom he linked himself in generation and political outlook. Ms. Ocasio-Cortez also campaigned in Kansas Friday for liberal House candidates and was slated for an event over the weekend for a primary challenger to a Democratic incumbent in Missouri, William Lacy Clay.

The rise of somebody like Alexandria seems kind of obvious to somebody in our generation, Mr. El-Sayed said in an interview, casting the moment in grand terms: The machine, whether it is on the right or on the left, has assented to this broken system of corporate politics, and I think people are real frustrated about that.

That mind-set unnerves Democratic veterans like Mr. Brewer, the former party chairman, in a state where they have long struggled to overcome a Republican machine aligned with the business community. Mr. Trumps slim victory there exposed divisions between the national Democratic Party and many of the white union members on whose votes Michigan Democrats rely, underscoring Democrats tenuous position in 2018.

But within deep-blue precincts where Democratic insurgency appears strongest, talk of accommodating the center is in short supply.

In Massachusetts, where several incumbent House Democrats are facing feisty challenges, Michelle Wu, a 33-year-old member of the Boston City Council, said voters are demanding leaders who share their intense alarm about economic and racial inequality. Defying the local machine, she recently endorsed Ayanna Pressley, a fellow council member, in a primary against Representative Michael Capuano, a long-serving liberal.

People want to believe we can take our own future into our hands, Ms. Wu said.

Read more:
There Is a Revolution on the Left. Democrats Are Bracing ...

Asked by host Steve Scaffidi on the local station WTMJ about Republican primary opponent Leah Vukmir's suggestion that her record as a Republican state senator should mean more to conservative voters than his military experience, Nicholson argued that to serve in the military is fundamentally conservative.

"And just because some people that don't call themselves conservatives and don't always act conservative do something conservative -- like, let's talk about John Kerry -- and signed up to serve this country, that doesn't mean that that's not a conservative thing to fundamentally protect and defend the Constitution," Nicholson said. "Because I'll tell you, the Democrat party has wholesale rejected the Constitution and the values that it was founded upon. So I'll tell you what: Those veterans that are out there in the Democrat party, I question their cognitive thought process because the bottom line is, they're signing up to defend the Constitution that their party is continually dragging through the mud."

Nicholson went on to tout "my time as a husband, my time as a father," as well as the endorsements of Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Utah Sen. Mike Lee as further conservative credentials.

Nicholson campaign spokesman Brandon Moody elaborated on the candidate's remarks in an email to CNN's KFile.

"Kevin made clear that all members of the military - regardless of their political party - sign up to defend and protect the Constitution and its principles," he said. "But Kevin also believes that the Democrat Party has become unmoored from the Constitution and has lost its way. Kevin left the Democrat Party years ago and became a conservative, in part, because liberal Democrats and the policies they promote have shown overt disrespect to our veterans."

Here is the original post:
Wisconsin GOP Senate candidate questions 'cognitive ...

Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon gives a statement regarding family separation after visiting the Southwest Key Casa Padre Facility in Brownsville on Sunday, June 17, 2018. Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland stands beside Merkley.(Photo: Courtney Sacco,Caller-Times)

WASHINGTON West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin on Monday became the 49th Democrat to sign onto a bill intended to halt family separations for immigrants accused of trying to cross the border illegally.

Every Senate Democrat is now a co-sponsor of the legislation which would prohibit children from being separated from their parents within100 miles of the U.S. border except for instances of abuse, neglect or other specific circumstances.

As a father, grandfather, and Christian, I am wholeheartedly opposed to any policy that allows innocent children to be separated from their parents as they enter our country, Manchin said in a statement.

The Keep Families Together Act was introduced by California Sen. Dianne Feinstein this month after the Trump administration started instituting a zero tolerance immigration policy, under which anyone who crosses the border illegally will be prosecuted.

More: Migrant detention center: Not much room for kids to play in the warehouse-like facility

More: Amid outrage, Homeland Security chief Kirstjen Nielsen 'will not apologize' for separating families

More: Trump says crime in Germany 'way up' because of immigration. He's wrong.

America's current and former first ladies are weighing in on the "zero tolerance" policy that has contributed to nearly 2,000 children being taken from their parents at the U.S. Mexico border. USA TODAY

Because of a decades-old court decision, called the Flores Settlement, immigrant children must be held under the least restrictive settings possible, which means they cannot be detained for long periods of time with their parents.

If a mother and child enter the U.S. illegally, the mother is sent to a federal jail or other detention center to await prosecution.Since children cannot be held in an adult facility, theyre put into the custody of the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement.

Through the end of May, nearly 2,000 children were separated from their parents, according to the Department of Homeland Security. Democrats have jumped on the separations, with a stream of lawmakers showing up at the border and other detention centers anddemanding to see what is happening.

The bill has no support from Senate Republicans, despite some saying they are uncomfortable with what is currently taking place at the border.

President Donald Trump has frequently blamed Democrats, including tweets on Monday that said they were at fault for "weak and ineffective" border security.Members of his administration, including Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, have defended the policy.

"We have to do our job. We will not apologize for doing our job," she said Monday during a speech to the National Sheriff's Association in New Orleans. "This administration has a simple message If you cross the border illegally, we will prosecute you."

Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who has defended the policy repeatedly,cited the Bibleamid criticism from faith leaders last week.

Orderly and lawful processes are good in themselves, Sessions said. Consistent, fair application of law is in itself a good and moral thing, and it protects the weak.

House Republicans have tried to address the issue in a broad immigration bill that would also fund the presidents border wall, provide a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as children, and end the diversity visa lottery program and limit family-based migration.

But critics say the way the GOP bill wouldnt really fix the problem because it would just relax the Flores Settlement and children would still end up separated from their parents, though for a briefer period of time.

No Democrats have indicated support for the GOP measure and it is still unclear if it will muster enoughRepublicansupport to pass the House. It faces very little chance of passing the Senate, where legislation requires at least 10 Democrats to support it. The president supports the bill.

Sen. Kamala Harris, a California Democrat, went even further Monday afternoon by calling on Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen to resign over the policy.

"It's time for Secretary Nielsen to resign. The government should be in the business of keeping families together, not tearing them apart. And the government should have a commitment to transparency and accountability. Under her tenure, DHS does not have a track record of either," she tweeted. Harris is one of multiple Democrats who is reportedly considering a presidential run in 2020.

Nielsen has been under increasing fire as she continues to push back against criticism of the policy.

Contributing: Deirdre Shesgreen

Read or Share this story: https://usat.ly/2thqJwE

See the rest here:
All Senate Democrats now support a bill that would ...

Democrats expressed concerns Wednesday about President Trump's executive order, which will allow parents who have crossed the U.S. border illegally to remain with their children. The move, some Democrats argued, simply detains illegal immigrants "indefinitely."

The order Trump signed allows children to stay in detention with their parents for an extended period of time. It does not, however, end the "zero-tolerance" policy that criminally prosecutes adults entering the country without proper documentation.

TRUMP SIGNS EXECUTIVE ORDER TO STOP FAMILY SEPARATIONS AT BORDER

Trump's order came after he and other officials repeatedly said only Congress had the power to stop children and their parents from being separated.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., tweeted Wednesday night that the executive order "merely replaces one inhumane act with another."

"In response to the overwhelming public outrage at his policy of tearing children away from their parents at the border, this administration thinks the appropriate response is to indefinitely detain families," Sanders said.

The senator said he's "hopeful ... the courts will step in to rein in these unlawful actions."

Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein, of California, shared similar sentiments, tweeting: "Its extremely troubling that the presidents executive order would require immigrant families with children to be detained indefinitely."

"This Executive Order doesnt fix the crisis," Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., wrote. "Indefinitely detaining children with their families in camps is inhumane and will not make us safe."

Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, however, tweeted that to say immigrant children are detained in the U.S. "'indefinitely & indiscriminately' ... is just PATENTLY FALSE." He argued that using the term "indefinite detention" is "disingenuous."

The separations stem from the administration's "zero tolerance" immigration policy, which aims to prosecute all illegal border crossers. The policy moves adults to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service and sends many children to facilities run by the Department of Health and Human Services.

The policy had led to a spike in family separations in recent weeks, with more than 2,300 minors separated from their families at the border from May 5 through June 9, according to the Department of Homeland Security

Trump said Wednesday that while "we're going to have strong, very strong borders ... we're going to keep families together."

Children, because of a 1997 order and related decisions, cannot be detained for longer than 20 days with the adults. A senior Justice Department official told The Associated Press that hasn't changed.

Fox News' Chad Pergram and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Nicole Darrah covers breaking and trending news for FoxNews.com. Follow her on Twitter @nicoledarrah.

Read more here:
Democrats slam Trump's executive order for detaining ...

ELIZABETH, N.J. (Reuters) - Democratic lawmakers joined protesters outside immigration detention facilities in New Jersey and Texas on Sunday for Fathers Day demonstrations against the Trump administrations practice of separating children from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border.

This must not be who we are as a nation, said Representative Jerrold Nadler, one of seven members of Congress from New York and New Jersey who met with five detainees inside a facility in Elizabeth, New Jersey, including three who said they had young relatives removed from their care after seeking asylum at the border.

The events came as news stories highlighting the family separations intensified political pressure on the White House, even from some of President Donald Trumps fellow Republicans.

U.S. officials said on Friday that nearly 2,000 children were separated from adults at the border between mid-April and the end of May.

In May, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced a zero tolerance policy in which all those apprehended entering the United States illegally, including those seeking asylum, would be criminally charged, which generally leads to children being separated from their parents.

Administration officials have defended the tactic as necessary to secure the border and suggested it would act as a deterrent to illegal immigration.

But the policy has drawn condemnation from medical professionals, religious leaders and immigration activists, who warn that some children could suffer lasting psychological trauma. The children are held in government facilities, released to adult sponsors or placed in temporary foster care.

In South Texas on Sunday, several Democratic lawmakers, including Senator Jeff Merkley, visited a Border Patrol Processing Center in McAllen to call attention to the policy, while Representative Beto ORourke, who is running for the U.S. Senate in Texas, led a protest march to a temporary detention facility for immigrant children set up near El Paso.

ORourke told the demonstrators they had to bear the burden of what we now know to be happening.

I want that burden to be so uncomfortable for so many of us that it forces us to act, it places the public pressure on those in positions of public trust and power to do the right thing for our country, ORourke, who is seeking to unseat Republican Senator Ted Cruz, said to applause.

Some moderate Republicans have also called on Trump to stop the separations. Senators Susan Collins and Jeff Flake wrote to White House officials on Saturday seeking more information on the policy.

It is inconsistent with our American values to separate these children from their parents, Collins said on CBS Face the Nation on Sunday.

Trump has sought to blame Democrats, saying their support for passage of a broader immigration bill would end the separations.

White House adviser Kellyanne Conway said on NBCs Meet the Press on Sunday: As a mother, as a Catholic, as somebody who has got a conscience. ... I will tell you that nobody likes this policy.

You saw the president (say) on camera that he wants this to end, she added.

A spokeswoman for Melania Trump told CNN on Sunday that the first lady hates to see children separated from their families and hopes lawmakers from both parties can agree on immigration reform.

In an opinion piece in the Washington Post, former first lady Laura Bush, wife of the previous Republican president, George W. Bush, said she lives in a border state and appreciates the need to enforce and protect the U.S. borders.

But this zero-tolerance policy is cruel. It is immoral. And it breaks my heart, Bush wrote, adding the images were eerily reminiscent of the Japanese American internment camps of World War II, now considered to have been one of the most shameful episodes in U.S. history.

Democrats have accused the president of effectively turning the children into political hostages to secure stricter immigration measures, such as funding for a U.S.-Mexico border wall.

Stop lying to the American people. This is your policy, Democratic U.S. Representative Hakeem Jeffries said in New Jersey.

Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives will introduce legislation this week aimed at stopping separations, mirroring a similar Senate bill sponsored by Democrat Dianne Feinstein. But neither bill has much hope of securing enough support in the Republican-controlled Congress, let alone surviving Trumps veto pen.

Roy Garcia, 43, attended the New Jersey protest with his wife, Linda, and their sons, 8-year-old Julian and 11-year-old Sebastian.

Its hard for me to enjoy Fathers Day knowing whats happening to other children and families, he said. Its heartbreaking.

Reporting by Joseph Ax; Additional reporting by Lindsay Dunsmuir and Valerie Volcovici in Washington; Editing by Daniel Wallis and Peter Cooney

Go here to see the original:
Democrats, activists rally against Trump's family ...