Ice will temporarily shift its priorities amid the coronavirus pandemic, delaying arrests of foreign nationals except for those who have committed crimes.
A Florida representative said that he tested positive for coronavirus, marking the first case in Congress.
The iconic New York Stock Exchange will close floor trading beginning on Monday. Electronic trading will continue.
After invoking the Defense Production Act to help make up for medical supply shortages, Donald Trump walked back the move, adding to the confusion surrounding his administration’s coronavirus response.
The Senate passed the second coronavirus bill, which expands paid sick leave and provides funding for free testing, on a vote of 90-8. It now heads to Trump’s desk for his signature.
The Dow closed down more than 1,300 points, marking another dismal day for the markets as investors panic over the coronavirus crisis. With today’s drop, nearly all the stock market gains since Trump took office have been wiped out.
Bernie Sanders’ campaign said he was assessing the path forward for his presidential bid, after Joe Biden completed a three-state sweep last night and moved closer toward securing the Democratic nomination.
The US-Canadian border will be closed to all non-essential travel in the hope of mitigating the spread of coronavirus. Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the two countries had mutually agreed to the closure.
The temporary policies that Immigration and Customs Enforcement has announced in response to the coronavirus pandemic resemble the Obama administration’s “felons, not families” approach.
Under the previous administration, immigrants without serious criminal offenses were often spared deportation. Donald Trump changed priorities, and his administration has often underscored that all undocumented immigrants are subject to deportation.
The new Ice policy comes after immigration lawyers joined with labor unions representing Ice prosecutors and immigration judges to ask the Justice Department to temporarily close the immigration courts. Though there are no confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Ice detention facilities, doctors and public health officials have warned that detained populations are at high risk.
It’s unclear whether the 37,000 people already in Ice detention will remain there. Overcrowding at detention facilities puts not only those who are detained but also enforcement agents and officers at risk, according to the internal watchdog for the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees Ice.
Although no cases of coronavirus have been confirmed at detention centers, one person was evaluated with coronavirus symptoms at a facility in San Diego. Another center in Washington state’s King’s county closed for two weeks due to concerns that an employee was infected.
The enforcement agency has not said for how long the new policies will be in place.
Melania Trump Photograph: Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images
Melania Trump will appear in public service announcements that “address the “important ways Americans can protect themselves and those most at risk” from contracting and spreading the coronavirus, according to the White House.
Coronavirus PSAs featuring Surgeon General Jerome Adams, Dr. Anthony Fauci, Dr. Deborah Birx and other officials will also be nationally broadcast. It’s unclear when these will launch.
Melania Trump has been notably disengaged from the White House’s messaging on coronavirus thus far. On Tuesday, she tweeted, “Consider taking advantage of time working from home to connect with your loved ones via email or FaceTime, spend time w family, or work on your well-being by reading a book or spending time on a hobby,” apparently unaware that most people who work from home have to spend their time ... working.
Miami-Dade County will restrict of close all non-essential business, its mayor announced. Starting tomorrow, non-essential retail, private educational facilities and casinos will be closed.
“These actions are necessary to keep our community safe from the spread of COVID-19 while ensuring the continuity of essential services,” officials said in a statement.
The county declared a state of emergency last week. Now, food service establishments, bars and clubs have been ordered to close. Restaurants can remain open for takeout and delivery. Miami shut down its beach earlier after spring break revelers failed to practice social distancing.
Ice confirms that it will “temporarily adjust its enforcement posture”.
The agency will focus “on public safety risks and individuals subject to mandatory detention based on criminal grounds,” it said in a statement. In all other cases agents “will exercise discretion to delay enforcement actions until after the crisis or utilize alternatives to detention, as appropriate,” the agency said.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement is reportedly making changes to its policies, in response to the coronavirus pandemic according to multiple reports.
BREAKING: ICE is making major changes to how it enforces and detains immigrants.
The agency will "focus enforcement on public safety risks and individuals subject to mandatory detention based on criminal grounds" and delay arresting those who fall out of this category.
BREAKING: ICE notified congressional staffers this afternoon that it's adjusting its "enforcement posture," beginning today, and will focus on those who pose a public safety risk or are "subject to mandatory detention based on criminal grounds."
Representatives reports first coronavirus case in Congress
Representative Mario Diaz-Balart, a Republican of Florida, has tested positive for coronavirus, he said in a statement. “I’m feeling much better,” he said. “However, it’s important that everyone take this seriously.”
I'm feeling much better. However, it's important that everyone take this seriously and follow @CDCgov guidelines in order to avoid getting sick & mitigate the spread of this virus. We must continue to work together to emerge stronger as a country during these trying times. pic.twitter.com/g5W5vSQIyH
Donald Trump’s walk-back of his decision to invoke the Defense Production Act isn’t the first time he’s vacillated. The president’s response to the pandemic has been hot and cold, writes Luke O’Neil:
On Monday this week Trump, seeming to finally take the threat seriously, said: “We have a problem that a month ago nobody ever thought about.”
The next day, attempting to rewrite history, he said he felt it was a pandemic long before it was declared a pandemic.
And then, on Wednesday morning: “I always treated the Chinese Virus very seriously, and have done a very good job from the beginning, including my very early decision to close the ‘borders’ from China – against the wishes of almost all. Many lives were saved.”
The New York Stock Exchange’s decision to temporarily close the floor was prompted by the positive coronavirus test results of two people, Stacey Cunningham, President of the NYSE, told CNBC.
“We implemented a number a number of safety precautions over the past couple of weeks, and starting on Monday this week we started pre-emptive testing of employees and screening of anyone who came into the building,” Cunningham said on “Closing Bell.” “If that screening warranted additional testing, we tested people and they were sent home and not given access to the building. A couple of those test cases have come back positive.”
This is the first time the physical trading floor will be shut while electronic trading continues. The floor was previously closed during World War II and in the aftermath of 9/11.
After invoking the Defense Production Act to help make up for medical supply shortages and deploy hospital ships to help mitigate the coronavirus pandemic, Donald Trump appears to be walking back the move.
Trump tweeted that he’d only signed an executive order signaling he’d invoke the DPA “should we need to invoke it in a worst case scenario in the future.”
I only signed the Defense Production Act to combat the Chinese Virus should we need to invoke it in a worst case scenario in the future. Hopefully there will be no need, but we are all in this TOGETHER!
The message contradicts his earlier statements. During the White House press briefing today, Trump said he sees himself “in a sense as a wartime president” after invoking an act established in 1950 in response to production needs during the Korean war as a response to the coronavirus crisis.
Trump’s executive order said he’d use the DPA to help provide “health and medical resources needed to respond to the spread of COVID-19, including personal protective equipment and ventilators.”
McDaniel is one of nearly 60,000 people who have been tested in the US, as public health experts continue to raise concerns about shortages. The Guardian’s Lauren Aratani reports that not everyone who needs a test has been able to get one:
Who is getting tested in the US?
Decisions about who is getting tested are being made at the county and state level.
Broadly, CDC guidelines to healthcare professionals say that those tested must be showing symptoms, and priority is given to those who are in hospital, are at risk for the virus’s most deadly effects (elderly people and those with chronic medical conditions or weakened immune systems) or had known contact with a person who tested positive as priorities for testing. The CDC also says those who have a history of travel from “affected geographic areas” – China, Iran, South Korea and parts of Europe – should be prioritized.
But there appears to be no guarantee of a test. Over the past few weeks, there has been a flood of stories of people who are symptomatic and should be prioritized by testing, but were not: for example, the elderly husband of a coronavirus patient who died from the illness, healthcare workers who may have been exposed to the virus and countless numbers of symptomatic travelers to countries with known outbreaks.
Those who have been tested have often described frustratingexperiences of being sent from one place to another seeking a test.
Fueling the frustration are stories of high-profile figures who have managed to get tested. The NBA got 58 tests within six hours for players of the Utah Jazz, though it is unclear how many players were actually showing symptoms. A fashion influencer who had body aches and a fever was tested with the help of a friend, after other doctors she spoke with told her she did not qualify for testing in New York state.
One Native American tribe’s trailblazing coronavirus response:
The Lummi nation, a sovereign Native American tribe in the Pacific north-west, will soon open a pioneering field hospital to treat coronavirus patients, as part of a wave of strong public health measures which have gone further than many governments.
Tribal leaders have been preparing for Covid-19 since the virus first appeared in Wuhan, China, in late 2019, with medical staff beefing up emergency plans, reorganizing services and gathering medical supplies, including test kits and personal protective equipment.
The Lummi reservation is located in Whatcom county – 115 miles north of Seattle, Washington, where the first US Covid-19 case was confirmed in January, followed by the first death in February.
So far, the tribe has reported three Covid-19 cases, but expect numbers to rise as the pandemic progresses.
As the Trump administration stalled, the tribe swiftly introduced mitigation and prevention measures such as social distancing, drive-through testing, telemedicine clinics, and a home delivery service for the elderly.
The tribal council declared a state of emergency on 3 March – 10 days before Donald Trump did the same in the US – and approved $1m to prepare and respond for the evolving pandemic, which includes setting up the hospital.
Donald Trump announced plans to formally nominate Russ Vought to direct the Office of Management and Budget. Vought has served as the acting director of the office for more than a year.
Vought has come under fire for doubling down on proposed cuts to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, last week, despite the coronavirus pandemic.
Last week, Matt Cartwright, a Democratic representative of Pennsylvania, pushed Vought on Trump’s proposal to cut Health and Human Services funding by $9.5 billion. The cut included a $1.2bn decrease to the CDC and a $35m decrease to the Infectious Diseases Rapid Response Reserve Fund’s annual contribution.
“If you’re asking if I’m sending up a budget amendment, no, I’m not sending up a budget amendment,” Vought said.
The OMB later said that the CDC cuts in the budget didn’t affect infectious diseases and that Trump’s budget request included $4.3bn in funds for Infectious Diseases and Preparedness.
Hi, there — this is Maanvi Singh, taking over from the West Coast.
The New Yor Stock Exchange will temporarily switch to electronic trading starting on Monday. Floor trading will be suspended in order to protect everyone from the spread of coronavirus.
“The decision to temporarily close the trading floors represents a precautionary step to protect the health and well-being of employees and the floor community in response to COVID-19,” said Intercontinental Exchange, Inc, which operates global exchanges and clearinghouses.
That’s it from me today. My west coast colleague, Maanvi Singh, will take over the blog for the next few hours.
Here’s where the day stands so far:
The Senate passed the second coronavirus bill, which expands paid sick leave and provides funding for free testing, on a vote of 90-8. It now heads to Trump’s desk for his signature.
The Dow closed down more than 1,300 points, marking another dismal day for the markets as investors panic over the coronavirus crisis. With today’s drop, nearly all the stock market gains since Trump took office have been wiped out.
Bernie Sanders’ campaign said he was assessing the path forward for his presidential bid, after Joe Biden completed a three-state sweep last night and moved closer toward securing the Democratic nomination.
The US-Canadian border will be closed to all non-essential travel in the hope of mitigating the spread of coronavirus. Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the two countries had mutually agreed to the closure.
Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke over the phone shortly after the president announced the US-Canadian border was being closed to non-essential travel.
“The two leaders discussed the coronavirus pandemic and the close cooperation on efforts to combat the virus, including the agreement to reduce movement across the United States-Canada border to essential travel only,” the White House said in a statement.
“President Trump and Prime Minister Trudeau agreed it was important to preserve supply chains and trade, regardless of travel restrictions.”
