NewsTaco Rundown – January 30, 2019

I went to the White House to let the president know immigration reform is an economic necessity – The Hill

Last week, I went to the White House to talk about the economy.

Of course, the government shutdown was discussed, as was immigration reform and border security. But I was not interested in picking sides between Republicans and Democrats, nor was I interested in bartering with members of the administration. Trading DREAMers in exchange for a border wall and limitations on asylum seekers, as proposed by the administration on Saturday night, was not on the table for me.

Judges Say Trump’s Shutdown Broke Immigration System for Years – Daily Beast

The 35-day government shutdown, ignited over Trump’s demands for congressional funding of his long-promised border wall, exacerbated the very immigration crisisthe president claims the barrier would solve, halting nearly all immigration court cases and putting three in four immigration judges on furlough. Hearings on asylum cases, deportation, and appeals against orders of removal were delayed indefinitely, pending a “reset” upon the government’s re-opening that shuffled tens of thousands of cases to the back of the line.

Racial Disparities in Health — are we really post-racial? – SFC Today

A new study has shown junk food companies spent billions on advertisements directed to black and Hispanic children. The University of Connecticut’s Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity study, conducted in unison with Drexel University & the University of Texas Health Science Center, found that “junk food made up 86% of ad spending for black-targeted television and 82% for Spanish-language television.”

‘Trump effect:’ California Latino voters showed up in force in 2018. Will they do it again? – McClatchy

California Latinos turned out to vote in big numbers in November’s midterm elections, helping Democrats flip seven House seats and raising expectations for the role they may play in 2020. Data obtained by McClatchy show that the proportion of Latinos voting in the seven California congressional districts that Democrats targeted last year rose to levels normally seen in presidential elections.

McConnell says Democrats’ bid to boost voting rights law is a ‘power grab’ – McClatchy

The battle over voting rights ahead of the 2020 election is officially on in Congress, with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell insisting Democratic-led efforts to strengthen voting rights laws are no more than a partisan “power grab.” Democrats are pushing a bill that among other things would repair the landmark voting rights law that the Supreme Court fractured in 2013 and that the previous Republican-controlled Congress appeared in no hurry to fix.