The White House is considering a second sharp reduction in the number of refugees who can be resettled in the United States, picking up where President Trump left off in 2017 in scaling back a program intended to offer protection to the world’s most vulnerable people, according to two former government officials and another person familiar with the talks.This time, the effort is meeting with less resistance from inside the Trump administration because of the success that Stephen Miller, the president’s senior policy adviser and an architect of his anti-immigration agenda, has had in installing allies in key positions who are ready to sign off on deep cuts.Last year, after a fierce internal battle that pitted Mr. Miller, who advocated a limit as low as 15,000, against officials at the Department of Homeland Security, the State Department and the Pentagon, Mr. Trump set the cap at 45,000, a historic low. Under one plan currently being discussed, no more than 25,000 refugees could be resettled in the United States next year, a cut of more than 40 percent from this year’s limit. It would be the lowest number of refugees admitted to the country since the creation of the program in 1980.
Give me your tired, your poor— on second thought, to hell with all of you.
* A new Quinnipiac poll shows Ted Cruz’s lead over Beto O’Rourke shrinking to 6 points.
* A new Monmouth University poll of a special House election in Ohio in a solidly red district shows that it has become a dead heat.
* Hunter Woodall, Jessica Huseman, Bryan Lowry, and Blake Paterson report on how anti-immigrant crusader Kris Kobach convinced towns all over the country to pass ordinances targeting immigrants, and ended up costing them millions in legal fees with nothing to show for it.
* After Trump today called on Jeff Sessions to fire Robert S. Mueller III, Rep. Adam Schiff responded by pointing out that Trump is trying to obstruct justice right there in plain sight.
* Carolyn Fiddler tells Democrats about the secretary of state candidates to support if they want to fight vote suppression.
* Shefali Luthra reports that the younger generation of doctors is much more ready for universal health coverage than their elders are.
* Data for Progress has interesting data on the wide popularity of many progressive policies.
* John Stoehr argues that the time has come for the press to take sides.