PSJD Public Interest News Digest – July 30, 2021
Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives
Hello, interested public! Big stories this week coming out of student debt land, with tension between leadership in the US Senate and the US House of Representatives over the desirability of student loan debt forgiveness and new efforts by the Department of Education to reach out to borrowers relying on the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. Additionally, the Biden Administration announced plans to begin speeding up deportations for some migrant families crossing the US-Mexico border.
These stories and more are in the links below.
Take care of one another,
Sam
Rule of Law
Immigration, Refugee, and Citizenship Issues
- In Washington DC, “[t]he Biden administration is planning to speed up deportations for some migrant families who cross the US-Mexico border, the Department of Homeland Security said[.]”
- In Essex County NY, “[i]n what many see as a retaliatory act [in response to protests by detainees and advocates against ICE’s use of Essex County Jail], ICE is transferring the people detained at Essex rather than releasing them.”
- In the United States, “[a] ProPublica survey of more than a dozen lawyers across the country…along with documents circulated by several local ICE offices, shows that implementation of [the Biden Administration’s immigration prosecution] guidance has been spotty, with many prosecutors proceeding with exactly the sorts of deportation cases the new rules are intended to prevent.”
- In Texas, “[although] resident Joe Biden promised, if elected, his government would withdraw the lawsuits aimed at taking land for border wall construction. Six months into his administration that hasn’t happened. In fact, dozens of lawsuits are still being litigated, according to the Department of Justice and the pro-bono attorneys representing some of the landowners.”
Student Loans & Student Debt
- In Washington DC, “House Speaker Nancy Pelosi [] rejected efforts by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and other progressives to persuade President Joe Biden to unilaterally cancel large amounts of student loan debt, exacerbating a growing rift in the Democratic Party over the issue.”
- Also in Washington DC, “the Education Department launched a public inquiry to fix the [Public Service Loan Forgiveness] program…Starting next week, anyone can submit comments to the department regarding PSLF, and the department specifically wants to know[.]”
- In the United States, “[s]everal collegiate institutions throughout the country are leading efforts to help eliminate student debt[.]”
- Forbes discussed “new research from the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget [that asserts] both total student loan cancellation and partial student loan cancellation will have a minimal effect on the economy.”
Non-Profit & Gov’t Management & Hiring
Access to Justice – Civil & Economic
- In Minnesota, “a first-of-its-kind fleet of mobile legal clinics have found their way across [the state] with a launch from the State Capitol.”
- In Arkansas, “[t]hanks to a lawsuit by Legal Aid of Arkansas, Pulaski Circuit Judge Herb Wright has issued an injunction to force the governor and the Division of Workforce Services to resume participation in two pandemic unemployment programs, one paying an extra $300 a week. Hutchinson ordered the payments to stop at the end of June, 10 weeks early, claiming it would force people to go back to work.”
Access to Justice – Criminal
- In Knox County IN, “[m]embers of the Public Defender Board later this year will submit to county officials its leanest annual budget yet.”
- In Washington County AR, “justices of the peace [] heard a request to increase the pay for public defenders to the same level as those in the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.”
Criminal Justice Reform and Counter-Reform
- In Chicago IL, “[c]ommunity groups [] urged the city of Chicago to end its use of the ShotSpotter gunshot detection system when the contract expires next month.”
- In Yolo County CA, “Yolo County was recently selected to be one of nine counties to receive funding for the California County Resentencing Pilot Project.”
- In Oakland CA, “Los Angeles progressive District Attorney George Gascón, and Christine Soto Deberry, the founder and Executive Director of the Prosecutor’s Alliance—an organization for reform-oriented prosecutors and other law enforcement—met on a panel sponsored by Impact Justice to discuss how progressive prosecutors navigate the pushback they face from police unions who try to stifle reform.”