THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. **** Saturday/Sunday, February 29 - March 1, 2020 |A
U.S. NEWS
A sparse snowpack caps the mountains looming over Lake Tahoe, Calif. Below: Sean de Guzman, from the California Department of Water Resources, plunged a snow
survey tube into the snow pack during the third snow survey of the season at Phillips Station near Echo Summit, Calif., on Thursday.RICH PEDRONCELLI/ASSOCIATED PRESS (2)A federal appeals court
ruled the Trump administra-
tion must halt a policy of re-
turning migrants along the
southern U.S. border to Mexico
while their requests for asy-
lum in the U.S. are considered.
The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court
of Appeals, based in San Fran-
cisco, on Friday ruled the policy
was inconsistent with federal
immigration law and U.S. inter-
national treaty obligations not
to return aliens to countries
where their life or freedom
would be threatened due to
their race, religion, nationality,
or political or social affiliations.
The court, in its 2-to-1 rul-
ing, said its decision applied
to the entire southern U.S.
border, citing the need for uni-
form immigration rules. Be-
cause the policy “is invalid in
its entirety...it should be en-
joined in its entirety,” Judge
William Fletcher, a Clinton ap-
pointee, wrote for the court.
The ruling is a considerable
setback for the Trump admin-
istration, which said the “Re-
main in Mexico” policy was
one of its most effective in
slowing the wave of asylum
seekers arriving at the south-
ern border from Central Amer-
ica and elsewhere.
Illegal border crossings
have fallen more than 75%
since their peak in May,
around the time when the ad-
ministration vastly expanded
“Remain in Mexico.”
The administration signaled
in court papers late Friday
that it will seek Supreme
Court review.
The White House described
the decision as “another reck-
less nationwide injunction
threatening our constitutional
structure.”
Press secretary Stephanie
Grisham said the policy was a
success and the court’s deci-
sion aggravates the threat of
coronavirus. “If today’s ruling
is allowed to stand, these suc-
cesses will be reversed, which
threatens to flood the Nation’s
immigration system, present
unchecked coronavirus entry
risk...and reignite the humani-
tarian and security crisis at the
border,” she said.
The decision marked a
shift for the appeals court,
which had issued a prelimi-
nary ruling last May that al-
lowed the administration to
implement the policy until the
court reached its final deci-
sion. Joining Judge Fletcher
was Judge Richard Paez, also
a Clinton appointee. In dis-
sent, Judge Ferdinand Fer-
nandez, a George H.W. Bush
appointee, said the court
should have been bound by its
earlier decision.
The“RemaininMexico”
policy, formally called the Mi-
grant Protection Protocols,
made its debut in January
2019 as the Trump administra-
tion sought alternatives to re-
leasing families seeking asylum
into the U.S., where they were
permitted to live for months,
and often years, as their cases
made their way through back-
logged immigration courts.
In the past year, the govern-
ment has sent more than
60,000 migrants seeking asy-
lum back across the border,
where they were required to
wait in violent Mexican border
cities for months for U.S. court
dates. Many migrants who
have been returned—estimated
at about half, according to re-
cent data—simply drop their
claims before they are decided.
The arrival of throngs of
Central American and other
Spanish-speaking migrants has
created humanitarian crises in
several of the cities where
they have been waiting.
Fearing a court could halt
the “Remain in Mexico” pro-
gram, the administration cre-
ated several other avenues to
deport asylum seekers quickly.
Some have been sent to Guate-
mala under a “safe third coun-
try” pact.
BYBRENTKENDALL
ANDMICHELLEHACKMAN
‘Remain
In Mexico’
Is Ruled
Unlawful
In the past year,
more than 60,
asylum seekers were
sent back to Mexico.
ing Senate Intelligence Com-
mittee Chairman Richard Burr
of North Carolina, were unen-
thusiastic then about the
choice of Mr. Ratcliffe for the
intelligence czar post, people
familiar with the matter said.
A senior administration of-
ficial said the White House be-
lieves Senate Republicans are
more open to Mr. Ratcliffe’s
nomination this time around.
Unlike his predecessors in
the post, Mr. Ratcliffe, 54 years
old, doesn’t possess significant
experience in either intelli-
gence or foreign affairs. He
was first elected to Congress
in 2014 and joined the House
Intelligence Committee in Jan-
uary 2019. He also has been ac-cused of inflating his role in
prosecuting terrorism cases in
his past role as a U.S. attorney.
“As I’ve said before, how-
ever, there is no substitute for
having a permanent, Senate-
confirmed Director of National
Intelligence in place to lead
our [intelligence community],”
Mr. Burr said Friday. “I look
forward to receiving Congress-
man Ratcliffe’s official nomi-
nation and ushering it through
the Senate’s regular order.”
Sen. Mark Warner, the top
Democrat on the Senate Intel-
ligence Committee, said: “The
last time this nomination was
unsuccessfully put forward, se-
rious bipartisan questions
were raised about Rep. Ratc-named climate change as a
possible contributing factor.
“We’re seeing a lot of
things now that we haven’t
seen before,” said Sean de
Guzman, chief of snow surveys
and water supply forecasting
for the Department of Water
Resources.
The good news for Califor-
nians is that reservoirs remain
mostly full around the state,
while the snowpack—as meager
as it is—has retained most of its
water content without melting
off early, Mr. de Guzman said.California since mid-January,
diverting Pacific storms to
Northwestern cities like Seat-
tle, which has had an unusually
wet winter.
“California usually has
above-normal or below-normal
winters, so we do go through
periods of dry weather like
this,” said Anna Schneider, a
National Weather Service me-
teorologist in Monterey, Calif.
Yet state water officials say
they have never seen weather
conditions change as dramati-
cally in recent years, anddeclared an end to a five-year
drought that hurt the farm
economy, prompted mandatory
rationing and turned forests
into powder kegs for wildfires.
While California has seen
more rain and snow in recent
years, the drought left much
of the state so parched that
the rise in precipitation has
done little to offset persistent
fire risks.
Weather forecasters attri-
buted the dry spell to a strong
ridge of high pressure that has
been parked off the coast ofCalifornia’s mountain snow-
pack is about half its normal
level, raising fears that the
state could return to drought
after a string of mostly abun-
dant wet years.
On Thursday, officials of the
state’s Department of Water
Resources conducted a survey
at a measuring station near
Lake Tahoe that recorded 29
inches of snow, or 47% of av-
erage for this time of year.
The reduced snowpack fol-
lows a roughly six-week
stretch that has been one of
the driest periods on record in
California.
With no rain in sight until
at least Sunday, downtown
San Francisco was on track to
record no measurable rain in
February for the first time
since 1864, and only the sec-
ond time in its history.
Similarly, state officials say
the northern part of the Sierra
Nevada mountains were on
track to experience no precipi-
tation in February for the first
time since records started
there 100 years ago.
At the same time last year,
by contrast, the Sierra moun-
tains were buried under a
snowpack that stood at 144%
of normal—and nearly double
the average amount in 2017
when then-Gov. Jerry BrownBYJIMCARLTONAt one point during the last
drought, the snowpack had
shrunk to as little as 10% of its
normal size.
Another positive is that
California’s other major source
of water—from the Colorado
River—is enjoying a banner
snow season.
“Things could be a lot
worse,” Mr. de Guzman said.
But hopes for the sort of
“Miracle March” that have sal-
vaged previous dry seasons
with prodigious precipitation
are fast evaporating, amid
long-term forecasts for con-
tinued dry conditions and fur-
ther snow loss given the likeli-
hood of an ever-warming
climate.
The state’s farms are likely
to feel the pinch this year. The
U.S. Bureau of Reclamation
earlier this week said that,
based on the dry conditions, it
was reducing allocations of
federally controlled irrigation
water to an initial level of as
little as 15% of normal for
some farm districts.Drought Fears Rise in California
Snowpack, on which
state relies for water, is
half its normal level; no
rain, snow in FebruaryDegreetowhichCalifornia's
averageFebruarysnowdepth
hasvariedfrom50-year
rollingaverageforthemonthSource: California Department of Water
Resources200050100150%Feb. 2010 Feb. ’15 Feb. 2020WASHINGTON—The House
passed a bill that would ex-
pand current restrictions on
flavored tobacco products to
include a ban on menthol-fla-
vored cigarettes and e-ciga-
rettes, despite some objections
within the Democratic Party
and concerns from civil-liber-
ties groups that the legislation
could lead to over-policing of
black communities.
The legislation, which aims
to curb a surge in underage
vaping, passed 213 to 195,
largely along party lines, with
only five Republicans backing
the measure. The bill would
prohibit all flavored tobacco
products within one year, and
remove all e-cigarettes from
the market within 30 days ex-
cept those formulated to taste
like tobacco.
The House bill faces an up-
hill battle in the GOP-controlled
Senate, where Democratic Sen.
Sherrod Brown of Ohio has in-
troduced similar legislation.
The White House issued a veto
threat on Thursday.BYLINDSAYWISE
ANDJENNIFERMALONEYMenthol
Tobacco
Products
Ta rge t e d
liffe’s background and qualifi-
cations. It’s hard for me to see
how anything new has hap-
pened to change that.”
Mr. Trump has clashed with
his previous intelligence
chiefs. Mr. Coats, for example,
butted heads with the presi-
dent about how to address
Russia’s interference in U.S.
politics. Mr. Trump also lashed
out after learning that one of
Mr. Maguire’s subordinates
had briefed the House Intelli-
gence Committee about Rus-
sia’s apparent preference for
Mr. Trump in the 2020 presi-
dential contest.
Mr. Ratcliffe has publicly
criticized intelligence and law-
enforcement agencies for their
handling of the Russia investi-
gation. He also was a member
of the defense team for Mr.
Trump’s Senate impeachment
trial.
One U.S. official said Mr.
Trump will get a loyal sup-
porter as intelligence director,
whether or not Mr. Ratcliffe is
confirmed.
The nomination restarts the
clock on Mr. Grenell’s acting
status, which had been due to
expire March 11. If Mr. Ratc-
liffe’s nomination stalls, Mr.
Grenell would remain acting Di-
rector of National Intelligence.
“However this goes, the
president gets his guy in the
role,” which is as it should be,
the official said.WASHINGTON—President
Trump said he intends to nom-
inate Rep. John Ratcliffe as his
director of national intelli-
gence, reviving a selection that
foundered last year over con-
cerns about his qualifications
and fears he would politicize
the nation’s spy apparatus.
On Twitter Friday, the pres-
ident praised the Texas Repub-
lican as “an outstanding man
of great talent!”
If confirmed, Mr. Ratcliffe
would replace Dan Coats, who
served in the role overseeing
and coordinating the nation’s
intelligence agencies until Au-
gust 2019. Mr. Trump recently
announced that Joseph Ma-
guire, a retired Navy vice ad-
miral who served as acting di-
rector of national intelligence,
would step down. He named
Richard Grenell, the U.S. am-
bassador to Germany, as his
replacement in an acting ca-
pacity.
Mr. Ratcliffe’s confirmation
is likely to face hurdles in the
Senate, where Republicans
have a narrow 53-47 majority.
When he was under consid-
eration for the job last year,
Democrats in Congress ques-
tioned his credentials and
warned that he would politi-
cize nonpartisan intelligence
agencies. Republicans, includ-BYANDREWRESTUCCIA
ANDWARRENP.STROBELTrump Again Taps Ratcliffe for DNI
Texas Rep. John Ratcliffe’s confirmation is likely to face hurdles
in the Senate, where Republicans have a narrow 53-47 majority.MICHAEL BROCHSTEIN/ZUMA PRESS