Monday 2 May 2022 The Guardian •
World^21
Republicans return to politics of
immigration as midterms loom
Lauren Gambino
Washington
Four years after Republicans
embraced Donald Trump’s nativ-
ist and often racist playbook in an
attempt to keep control of Congress,
the party is again placing the volatile
politics of immigration at the centre
of its midterm election strategy.
From the US-Mexico border to
the US Capitol, in hearing rooms
and courtrooms, Republicans are
hammering the issue. At the fore-
front of the debate is a once-obscure
public health order invoked by the
Trump administration in March 2020
demanding that he accept the blame
for what they described as dangerous
and dire conditions along the 2,000-
mile border with Mexico.
“We’re all really border states
now,” the congressman Steve Chabot,
of Ohio, said darkly.
In another tense exchange, Ken
Buck of Colorado said his constitu-
ents believed Mayorkas was guilty
of treason and deserved to be
impeached – something conserva-
tives have vowed to pursue if they
win the House.
“What you have just said, it is so
profoundly off ensive on so many
diff erent levels, in so many diff er-
ent regards,” Mayorkas responded,visibly upset. He defended the
administration’s handling of the
border and said it was up to Con-
gress to act.
“We inherited a broken and dis-
mantled system that is already under
strain,” Mayorkas said. “It is not built
to manage the current levels and
types of migratory fl ows. Only Con-
gress can fi x this.”
The hearings laid bare the tensions
within Democratic ranks over Biden’s
immigration actions, particularly
over Title 42. For months, immigra-
tion advocates and progressives have
been pressuring Biden to lift Title 42,
which gives offi cials the authority to
swiftly expel migrants trying to enter
the US instead of allowing them to
seek asylum.
Some vulnerable Democrats
have appealed to Biden to hold off
on lifting the order, fearing it could
be a political liability. They fear the
administration lacks a plan for deal-
ing with an increase in asylum claims
when the order is lifted.Biden gets last laugh on Trump
and Fox News at press dinner
David Smith
Washington
Joe Biden celebrated the return of a
fl ashy annual gathering of Washing-
ton’s political and media elites on
Saturday with some humorous jabs
at Donald Trump – and himself.
The US president, sporting a tux-
edo and slightly askew bow tie, spoke
at the White House Correspondents’
Association dinner, which was can-
celled in 2020 and 2021 because of
the coronavirus pandemic.
It was another tentative step
towards Washington norms after
Trump had repeatedly snubbed the
gala, which champions the freedom
of the press.
“This is the fi rst time the president
has attended this dinner in six years,”
Biden said. “It’s understandable. We
had a horrible plague – followed by
two years of Covid.”
The three-course dinner took place
in a crowded hotel ballroom despite
the long shadow cast by the pan-
demic. Biden, 79, skipped the meal
with the 2,600 guests, all of whom
had had to provide proof of vaccina-
tion and a same-day negative test.
The event was an opportunity for
the president – or more precisely hisspeechwriters – to fl ex some comedy
muscles at the expense of the media,
the Republican s and his own ego.
He began: “A special thanks to the
42% of you who actually applauded.
I’m really excited to be here tonight
with the only group of Ameri-
cans with a lower approval rating
than I have.”
The president made fun of the
hypocrisy of the conservative
cable channel Fox News, which has
required its own employees to be vac-
cinated or tested daily , even as its
primetime hosts rail against Biden’s
vaccine mandates.
“I know there are questions about
whether we should gather here
tonight because of Covid. Well, we’re
here to show the country that we’re
getting through this pandemic. Plus,
everyone had to prove they’re fully
vaccinated and boosted.“So if you’re home watching this,
and you’re wondering how to do that,
just contact your favourite Fox News
reporter. They’re all here, vaccinated
and boosted. All of them.”
Perhaps the biggest laugh came
when Biden made light of the “Let’s
Go Brandon” slogan, which has
become rightwing code for swearing
at him. “Republicans seem to support
one fella, some guy named Brandon.
He’s having a really good year and I’m
kind of happy for him.”
When Biden shifted gear to recog-
nise the importance of journalism to
democracy, he again drew a contrast
with Trump by insisting a free press
“is not the enemy of the people ”.ostensibly as a means for controlling
the spread of coronavirus along the
south-western border.
Seizing on a decision by the Biden
administration to lift such “Title 42”
border restrictions, Republicans have
sought to paint Democrats as pursu-
ing an extremist immigration agenda
that they say ha s cost the nation its
sovereignty.
The provocative and often mis-
leading messaging campaign was on
display when Alejandro Mayorkas,
the secretary of homeland security,
testifi ed on Capitol Hill.
For more than eight hours, across
two days, Republicans pelted May-
orkas with accusations and insults,▲ Joe Biden and his wife, Jill , arrive
at the correspondents’ dinner at the
Washington Hilton PHOTOGRAPH: JIM LO
SCALZO/UPI/REX/SHUTTERSTOCKBlack pupils
‘made to pick
cotton seeds’
in class led by
white teacher
Associated Press
Rochester, New YorkUS school offi cials are investigating
allegations that a white teacher told
his class of mostly black students to
pick seeds out of cotton and put on
handcuff s during lessons on slavery
in a seventh-grade (year 8) social
studies class.
“It made me feel bad to be a black
person,” Jahmiere O’Neal , a student
at School of the Arts high school in
Rochester, New York, told reporters.
The teacher was put on leave and
has not been identifi ed by offi cials.
Adam Urbanski, the vice-president of
the American Federation of Teachers
union , told the radio station WXXI-
AM : “ If someone departs from what
they should be doing, they should
suff er the consequences, but due
process has to be allowed fi rst.”
The allegations came to light after
an appalled parent posted remarks
on Facebook last week. “He made a
mockery out of slavery,” the mother,
Precious Tross , told news outlets.
“I don’t have a problem with you
teaching our kids about slavery
and how [our ancestors] had to pick
cotton,” she said. “Our teachers back
in the day told us that, but they don’t
bring in cotton and make you pick
cotton seeds out of cotton.”
Tross and Vialma Ramos-O’Neal ,
Jahmiere’s mother, said the teacher
had let white children refuse to take
part in the cotton-picking while not
letting children of colour opt out.
“I immediately was like, ‘Oh, I’m
not doing that,’” Tross’s daughter,
Ja’Nasia Brown , said. “And then he
was like, ‘Do it. It’s for a good grade.’”
On another occasion, the teacher
brought in handcuff s and shackles,
students said. Tross said that when
her daughter balked at putting them
on, the teacher threatened to send
her to the principal’s offi ce.
The parents are calling for the
teacher to be barred from the
profession.
The school’s principal, Kelly
Nicastro , said the allegations were
being taken “very seriously”. A
statement from the school board
called the m “extremely troubling”.
“In a district of black and brown
students, it is important to be sen-
sitive of the historical framework
by which our students are engaging
and learning,” the board’s president,
Cynthia Elliott, said.‘I was like, “I won’t do
that.” He was like, “Do
it for a good grade”’Ja’Nasia Brown
Student