//  10/25/18  //  Daily Update

Pipe bombs were sent to prominent Democratic politicians, including Hillary Clinton, former President Barack Obama, Eric Holder, and Maxine Waters, as well as CNN. The migrant caravan headed to the United States from Honduras is creating a political firestorm before the midterms. Amazon met with ICE officials to market its facial recognition software. The GAO has issued its report on the family separation policy. Officials are preparing for false claims of election interference that might affect the public’s confidence in the electoral process. Chinese and Russian spies are listening to President Trump’s phone calls. Two new reports demonstrate how black Americans are targeted by Russian disinformation.

IMMIGRATION

The migrant caravan headed to the United States from Honduras is creating a political firestorm before the midterms (NYT).

• NYT debunks 5 viral images of the caravan.

The administration did not tell key government agencies about its ‘zero tolerance’ immigration policy before announcing it in April (NYT, WSJ).

President Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric may backfire, writes Matt A. Bereto at NYT.

Amazon met with ICE officials to market its facial recognition software (ACLU).

The GAO has issued its report on the family separation policy (Imm. Prof. Blog). 

The new DS-5535 visa form, which asks applicants to provide 15 years-worth of background information, is just as effective a family-separation tool as a border wall, writes Moshe Schulman at NYT.

CIVIL RIGHTS

The administration has asked the court to delay the trial on the census citizenship question (The Hill).

DEMOCRACY

Officials are preparing for false claims of election interference that might affect the public’s confidence in the electoral process (The Hill).

• Fears of election security may suppress voter turnout (The Hill).

Facebook and Twitter have found no evidence of Chinese meddling in midterms (The Hill).

The Georgia NAACP has filed complaints against Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp for voter suppression tactics (Election Law Blog).

JUSTICE & SAFETY             

Officials should consider all of the many implications of the tension between the United States and China regarding cybersecurity before taking future action, write Ben Buchanan and Robert D. Williams at Lawfare.

The resignation of U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley has the potential to stagnate U.S. policy toward Africa, writes John Hursh at Just Security.  

The government shifted its legal basis for detaining Asadullah Haroon Gul at Guantanamo Bay (Lawfare).

CIA Director Gina Haspel has listened to audio tape of the alleged murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi (WaPo).

Pipe bombs were sent to prominent Democratic politicians, including Hillary Clinton, former President Barack Obama, Eric Holder, and Maxine Waters, as well as CNN (WSJ, WaPo).

• Democrats criticized President Trump’s past violent rhetoric (WSJ, WaPo, Politico).
• President Trump condemned the attacks (NYT).

Chinese and Russian spies are listening to President Trump’s phone calls (NYT).

REGULATION

Social security should be treated as an insurance policy, not an entitlement, writes Rep. John B. Larson at The Hill. 

President Trump’s false claim that Republicans support coverage of people with pre-existing health conditions belied years of Republican attempts to repeal and undermine Obamacare (WaPo).

• The GOP is alarmed that attempts to repeal the pre-existing condition coverage requirement might hurt them in the midterms (Politico).

RUSSIAN INTERFERENCE 

Two new reports demonstrate how black Americans are targeted by Russian disinformation (Just Security).

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