The Trump administration failed to meet a court-imposed deadline Tuesday to reunite all of the children under the age of 5 whom immigration officials took from their parents at the border and then sent to jails and detention centers across the country. Only 38 of the 102 children under 5 have been reunited with their parents, some of whom say their young children did not even recognize them at first after the traumatic, protracted separation.
On Tuesday, Judge Dana Sabraw reiterated that all separated children—3,000 in total—must be reunited with their parents by July 26, saying, “These are firm deadlines; they are not aspirational goals.” Also on Tuesday, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar claimed the United States was acting “generously” toward the migrant children.
Health and Human Service Secretary Alex Azar: “It is one of the great acts of American generosity and charity, what we are doing for these unaccompanied kids who are smuggled into our country or come across illegally.”
Protesters confronted President Trump’s daughter Ivanka in Syracuse, New York, on Monday, chanting, “Shame! Shame!” and “Do you know where their children are?” We’ll have more on family separation after headlines.
President Trump is in Brussels today for the NATO summit. At a NATO breakfast this morning, Trump attacked Germany and lashed out at NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.
President Donald Trump: “But Germany is totally controlled by Russia, because they will be getting from 60 to 70 percent of their energy from Russia and a new pipeline. And you tell me if that’s appropriate, because I think it’s not. And I think it’s a very bad thing for NATO, and I don’t think it should have happened.”
Trump also repeated his demand that NATO countries increase their military spending, which they had already planned to do by 2024. This is European Council President Donald Tusk.
Donald Tusk: “First of all, dear America, appreciate your allies. After all, you don’t have that many. And, dear Europe, spend more on your defense, because everyone respects an ally that is well prepared and equipped.”
After Brussels, Trump heads to Britain, where mass anti-Trump protests are planned in London, and then to Helsinki, where Trump will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, a meeting Trump says “’may be the easiest of them all.”
The Trump administration has threatened to impose 10 percent tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods, including fish, textiles, handbags, chemicals, petroleum and other products. The threat comes after the Trump administration imposed tariffs on $34 billion worth of Chinese goods last week, prompting China to retaliate with tariffs against American products. This is a spokesperson from China’s foreign ministry.
Hua Chunying: “I would like to stress that the United States’ behavior is typical trade bullying. China will definitely make the necessary counterattack and firmly protect our legitimate rights and interests. I would also like to say, this is a fight between unilateralism and multilateralism, protectionism and free trade, might and rules. China stands in line with the international community on the correct side of history to protect the rules of the multilateral trade order together.”
The Trump administration is eliminating $26 million in funding for grassroots groups that help people sign up for healthcare through the Affordable Care Act. The 70 percent funding cut comes as part of the Trump administration’s sustained effort to dismantle Obama’s landmark healthcare program.
President Trump has pardoned Dwight Hammond and his son Steven Hammond, two Oregon cattle ranchers who were convicted in 2012 of committing arson on federal lands. Prosecutors say the Hammonds set the fires to cover up their illegal deer poaching. Their conviction sparked armed right-wing militiamen, led by Ammon Bundy, to take over the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon, provoking a 41-day armed standoff in 2016.
The British Information Commissioner’s Office has slapped Facebook with a $660,000 fine—the maximum penalty allowed—for Facebook’s role in allowing Cambridge Analytica to harvest the information of up to 87 million people without their permission as part of an effort to sway voters to support President Donald Trump. Meanwhile, Facebook is also facing accusations that it is violating people’s privacy with its use of facial recognition tools, which scans people’s faces in photos even when people have turned off the facial recognition setting.
In Pakistan, at least 20 people were killed in a suicide attack targeting an election rally for an anti-Taliban political party in the northwest city of Peshawar. The Pakistani Taliban have claimed responsibility for the attack. Among the victims was a candidate for provincial assembly who had been running in the upcoming elections on July 25.
The U.N. Security Council is expected to vote later this week on whether to impose an arms embargo against South Sudan, following a U.N. report outlining potential war crimes committed by government forces this past spring. This is Ravina Shamdasani from the U.N. Human Rights Office.
Ravina Shamdasani: “We found that between the 16th of April and the 24th of May, at least 232 civilians were killed, and many more were injured, in attacks by government and aligned forces and armed youth on these villages in opposition-controlled areas in Mayendit and Leer. The report also documents the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war, with at least 120 women and girls raped or gang-raped, including children as young as 4. One 20-year-old woman was still bleeding from childbirth when she was raped.”
In Ireland, the upper house of Parliament will vote on legislation today that would make it illegal to purchase goods and services from Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories. The bill has support from the second-largest party in the Irish Parliament, as well as the opposition parties Labour and Sinn Féin.
Both American Airlines and Starbucks have announced plans to eliminate plastic straws, after sustained campaigns by environmentalists demanding companies reduce plastic waste, which is contaminating the oceans and contributing to the global pollution crisis. Starbucks says it will eliminate plastic straws by 2020.
In New York City, dozens of people rallied outside the National Homeland Security Conference, the largest annual gathering of DHS officials and private security contractors, including those profiting off mass deportation and family detention. This is Sarah Olle, one of the protesters.
Sarah Olle: “We are in New York City against the National Homeland Security Conference being here hosted in our city, and to call out Bill de Blasio for being a keynote speaker. He says that he supports our sanctuary city here in New York, but we know that the NYPD continues to collaborate with ICE and target noncitizens who are here in New York.”
And in Nevada, a pharmaceutical company has sued to stop tonight’s scheduled execution of Scott Dozier, saying the Nevada Department of Corrections illegally obtained its drug, midazolam, and that the sedative is not approved for use in executions. Nevada officials plan to use an untested three-drug cocktail, including midazolam and the painkiller fentanyl, which has never before been used in an execution in the United States. We’ll go to Nevada for more on this story later in the broadcast.
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