Sweden News USA ESTA Travel Pass

The Trump administration’s ambiguous stance on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program has left DACA recipients, known as “Dreamers,” feeling uneasy. While maintaining existing protections for DACA recipients, the Trump administration is also revoking their rights and intensifying crackdowns, further adding to the confusion.

DACA, introduced by the Obama administration in 2012, protects immigrants who entered the country illegally with their parents as children from deportation and allows them to work in the United States. However, under President Trump’s second term, these protections have been gradually weakened.

The Department of Health and Human Services announced in June that it would remove DACA recipients from Obamacare, and the Department of Education is investigating five colleges and universities that provided scholarships to DACA students. There have also been reports of DACA recipients being arrested and detained nationwide.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has stated in an official statement that “illegal immigrants are not automatically exempt from deportation, even if they are DACA recipients. DACA does not confer legal status, and those with criminal records or other grounds may be subject to deportation.” It also urged DACA recipients to “consider opportunities to return legally” through voluntary removal.

Currently, there are approximately 500,000 DACA recipients, more than a quarter of whom live in California. Most are from Mexico, El Salvador, and Guatemala, and most are under 35. Immigrant rights groups are concerned that this administration’s move is effectively withdrawing legal protections for DACA recipients.

The youth immigrant group United We Dream has pointed out that the status of DACA recipients is increasingly weakened. Mexican American advocacy groups have also pointed out that “the arrests of DACA recipients are causing great anxiety among DACA recipients as a whole.”

In California, DACA recipients have been detained in raids on businesses and traffic accidents, and in Florida, some of the first detainees at a newly opened immigrant detention center are reportedly DACA recipients.

As the Trump administration continues its large-scale federal workforce reduction, it has been revealed that 3,500 federal workers with addresses in Maryland lost their jobs in June alone.

According to local media outlet WTOP on the 20th, in Maryland, 3,500 federal workers and 600 local government workers lost their jobs in June, while 1,200 people were employed by the state government. According to the outlet, the number of federal workers who lost their jobs in Maryland in June is the highest in 30 years monthly.

Meanwhile, Maryland has about 230,000 federal workers, making it the state with the second highest percentage of federal workers in the United States after Washington, D.C.

Although school shootings are a major social issue in the United States, most Washington area parents feel their children are safe at school. According to a poll conducted by The Washington Post and Post-Schar School this spring, about three-quarters of Washington area public and charter school parents said their children are “very safe” or “somewhat safe” from gun violence and other attacks at school. When asked about safety from gun violence, 73% of Northern Virginia, 76% of Maryland, and 70% of D.C. answered positively, for a combined average of 74%.

This evaluation is related to the educational environment of Fairfax and Montgomery County, which are considered the best public-school districts in the country. In this survey, 9 out of 10 parents in D.C., Maryland, and Virginia rated their children’s schools as “excellent” or “good.”

School system reports show that student violence and misconduct have increased nationwide since in-person classes resumed after the pandemic.

A 2024 Gallup poll found that 44% of parents nationwide expressed concern about their children’s safety, one of the highest levels in recent years. The previous high was 55% following the Columbine High School shooting in Colorado in April 1999. Recent data from Montgomery County, Maryland’s most populous county, show that while fights and assaults in schools have decreased since the pandemic, false alarms and bomb threats have increased. The Montgomery school district has recently taken steps to address student misbehaviour by increasing penalties.

The poll surveyed 305 public and charter school parents, including 103 in D.C., 102 in Northern Virginia, and 100 in Maryland, from April 22 to May 4. Although local authorities report that such incidents have decreased in recent years, some parents still worry about safety in schools.

Perceptions of school safety can also vary depending on the demographics of the school. Studies have shown that schools with a high percentage of students of colour are perceived as less safe by white parents than schools with a high percentage of white students.

The New Jersey state government has warned that 350,000 New Jerseyans could lose their insurance benefits due to Medicaid cuts under President Donald Trump’s massive tax cut law.

On the 3rd, the state Department of Human Services issued a statement saying, “With the passage of the massive tax cut bill in the federal Congress today, massive cuts to Medicaid have become a reality.  As a result, it is estimated that about 350,000 people, or about 20% of New Jersey’s Medicaid subscribers, will lose their health insurance benefits.”

The state Department of Human Services expressed concern that “the federal government’s Medicaid budget cuts will result in a loss of $3.6 billion for New Jersey’s $24 billion Medicaid program budget,” and “New Jersey taxpayers’ burden will increase, and it will be more difficult to receive medical services.”

In May, New York Governor Kathy Hokule warned that if large-scale Medicaid cuts become a reality, about 1.5 million people in New York could become uninsured, and the New Jersey government also expressed concern that hundreds of thousands of people could lose their health insurance benefits.

The so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill” signed by President Trump on the 4th includes a provision to cut the federal government’s Medicaid-related spending by about $1 trillion over the next 10 years.

With changes such as adding work requirements to Medicaid eligibility and banning illegal immigrants from enrolling, Medicaid beneficiaries in New York and New Jersey will also be affected. Specifically, a new work requirement will be added to Medicaid enrolment conditions starting in 2027.

Adults between the ages of 19 and 64 will need to prove that they have worked or volunteered at least 80 hours per month or enrolled in an education program to maintain their Medicaid enrolment. In addition, the eligibility verification for Medicaid enrolees will be strengthened from once a year to twice a year. Also, starting in October 2028, those earning more than 100% of the federal poverty line will have to pay up to $35 out-of-pocket for some medical services.

President Trump and the Republican Party, who led the large-scale tax cut bill, say that this measure is inevitable, saying, “It will reduce waste related to the Medicaid program and prevent healthy adults from abusing the system.” However, the Democratic Party is fiercely criticizing it, saying, “Millions of Americans will lose health insurance and have difficulty receiving medical services.”

Fares for New Jersey Transit trains and buses will increase by 3% starting on the 1st.

According to the New Jersey Transit Authority, fares for trains, buses, and light rail will increase by 3% starting on this day. This is because the transit authority included a clause for automatic 3% increases starting in July of every year after the 15% increase in fares last July.

As a result of this 3% increase, one-way adult fares for buses connecting New Jersey Palisades Park and Fort Lee to Manhattan will increase from $5.15 to $5.30. Train fares from Princeton to Manhattan will increase from $18.40 to $18.95. The Hudson-Bergen light rail fare will increase from $2.55 to $2.60. The fare increase is expected to help New Jersey Transit’s fiscal year budget, which begins in July.

Transit officials expect the fare increase and increased ridership will generate an additional $33 million in revenue. Fare revenue accounts for more than 30 percent of Transit’s overall budget. However, civic groups such as the Tri-State Transit Campaign are opposing the plan, saying it is unfair to raise fares every year without any noticeable improvements in service. Civic groups are also demanding that a bill currently pending in the New Jersey Legislature to ban automatic fare increases be passed quickly.

The governor of Texas has signed a bill regulating self-driving cars ahead of Tesla’s planned launch of its robo-taxi service, Reuters reported on the 22nd.According to the report, Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed a bill regulating self-driving cars on the 20th that includes provisions requiring state permits for the operation of self-driving cars.

The law, which will take effect on September 1, requires state approval before self-driving cars can be operated on public roads, and allows permits to be revoked if the vehicles are deemed to endanger the public. It also defines autonomous vehicles as vehicles with ‘level 4′ autonomous driving functions that can drive themselves without a human driver in certain conditions such as limited areas and requires companies to prove that they can operate them safely.

This law is considered much simpler than California’s law, which requires extensive submission of autonomous driving test data to obtain a driving permit. However, Reuters analysed that it is interpreted as a cautious signal about easing robotaxi operation, as it is different from Texas’ anti-regulatory stance that it has maintained so far.

Texas prohibited the regulation of autonomous vehicle operation at the city level through a 2017 law. Earlier, seven Democratic state legislators in Texas requested Tesla to postpone the launch date of its robotaxi on the 18th.Tesla announced that it will launch its robotaxi in Austin, Texas starting that day.

There is speculation that Texas, which has maintained a very lax policy on autonomous vehicles, may act as a burden on Tesla’s full-scale launch of robotaxi as it clarifies the management and supervision of autonomous vehicle operation and safety issues.

A poll released on the 15th found that only one in five Americans think the Supreme Court is neutral.

According to the poll conducted by Reuters and polling agency Ipsos on 1,136 American adults from the 10th to the 12th, only 20% of respondents agreed that the Supreme Court is politically neutral.58% did not agree that the Supreme Court is politically neutral, and the rest said they did not know or did not answer.

Regardless of political affiliation, the response that the Supreme Court is not neutral was high. Only 10% of Democrats agreed that the Supreme Court is neutral, while 74% disagreed.

Among Republicans, 29% said the Supreme Court is neutral, while 54% said it was not.

Among Republicans, 67% responded positively, while only 26% of Democrats had the same view.

The favourable opinion rate decreased after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, which recognized abortion rights, in June 2022, Reuters analysed.

According to a Reuters-Ipsos poll conducted in late 2021, 57% of Americans had a favourable view of the Supreme Court, but in a poll conducted in June 2022, immediately after Roe v. Wade was overturned, that rate had dropped to 43%. The survey found that 24% of Americans supported the policy of revoking birthright citizenship while 52% opposed it. Among Democrats, only 5% supported the policy while 84% opposed it. However, among Republicans, 43% supported it while 24% opposed it, showing a higher percentage of support for the policy.

On the day of his inauguration in January, President Donald Trump signed an executive order limiting existing birthright citizenship. Since then, a series of constitutional lawsuits have been filed, and after some federal district courts blocked it, the Supreme Court is currently reviewing the validity of these lower court actions. In addition, the survey found that 53% of respondents supported a bill that would block federal assistance for transgender minors to transition.28% opposed the bill.

The Supreme Court previously reviewed a Tennessee law banning hormone therapy and puberty prevention drugs for transgender youth.

Currently, the U.S. Supreme Court has many conservative justices, with six of the nine justices.

The LIV Golf Tournament returns to Gainesville, Virginia, this week.

The tournament, which will be held at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club (pictured) from Friday the 6th to Sunday the 8th, will feature a lineup of world-class players, including 2023 Masters champion Jon Rahm, world No. 1 and Masters and U.S. Open champion Dustin Johnson, five-time major winner Brooks Koepka, six-time winner Phil Mickelson, 2022 Open champion Cameron Smith, Bryson DeChambeau, Sergio Garcia, and more.

The LIV Golf League, which debuted in 2022 as a rival to the PGA Tour, is supported by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. “This LIV Golf Tournament will be more than just a golf tournament; it will be an energetic festival in one of the most dynamic regions in the United States,” tournament organizers said in a press release.

Located just 45 minutes from the White House, this golf course is known as the most beautiful masterpiece among the 450 golf courses designed by Robert Trent Johnson, the greatest golf course architect of the 20th century, and last year, it hosted the Solheim Cup. “Built around Manasses Lake, it is beautiful but also dangerous,” the organizers said. “Players will face courage and challenges as they play along the contour of the lake.”

Tickets start at $50 and can be purchased online at LIVGolf.com. Along with the golf tournament, there will be live performances, meet-and-greet events, and more at the Fan Village.

You can also watch the players practice on Friday, the 6th at 12 p.m., Saturday, the 7th at 1 p.m., and Sunday, the 8th at 9:54 a.m. before the tournament.

As schools across the Washington area hold graduation ceremonies, Eleanor Roosevelt High School in Greenbelt, Maryland, is making headlines after revealing that 20 of its roughly 600 graduating class are identical or fraternal twins.

“It’s incredible to think that we grew up with so many friends and didn’t realize that there were so many twins,” said Andrew Beckman, a fraternal twin who is one of the graduates. Niles and Victoria Brown were among the fraternal twins who walked the stage at the University of Maryland’s Xfinity Centre in College Park during the commencement ceremony on Tuesday. But because they were fraternal twins, many didn’t even realize they were siblings.

Irrespective twins Andrew and Alena Beckman competed in high school, but they were also each other’s closest supporters. “We competed with each other, but we also helped each other out,” Alena says. “I was bad at physics, and Andrew was good. He helped me with my physics homework, and I helped him with his essays.”

Some of the twin’s plan to attend the same college. Identical twin sisters Taylor and Maria Gomez will attend the University of Pittsburgh together in the fall. “A lot of my friends are worried because they’re going to college out of state this August and they don’t know anyone, but my twins are going to the same college and we have each other to lean on,” Maria says.

Meanwhile, some twins are parting ways for the first time in 18 years. Andrew will attend North Carolina State University, and Alena will attend Vanderbilt University. “I’m really nervous and tearful,” Andrew says. “I think we’ll call each other often. I’ll think more positively, but there’s definitely a big change ahead,” said Alena.

The Donald Trump administration, which seeks to become an ‘energy dominant nation’, has begun to drive the ‘reconstruction of a nuclear powerhouse’. On the 23rd (local time), President Trump signed four executive orders to accelerate the construction of nuclear power plants and significantly ease regulations related to nuclear power plants. He said, “This executive order will make the United States a true power (country) in the nuclear industry again.”

The executive orders signed that day include

▶ reforming the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)

▶ streamlining the Department of Energy’s nuclear reactor testing

▶ rapid deployment of advanced nuclear power plant technology

 ▶ revitalizing nuclear power plant bases. The key is to quadruple the nuclear power generation capacity of the United States by 2050. This is higher than the previous Joe Biden administration’s plan to triple the capacity by the same period. To this end, the U.S. Department of Energy has decided to start construction of 10 new large-scale nuclear reactors by 2030.

President Trump instructed the Secretary of the Army to establish a program to operate and start nuclear reactors at military facilities within the next three years to supply power to artificial intelligence (AI) data centres designated as important defence facilities.

The White House pointed out in a reference material that day, “Since 1978, only two new nuclear reactors have been put into commercial operation in the United States,” and “Although nuclear power technology has advanced, it is safer and cheaper than ever, but the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has failed to approve new nuclear power plants due to an overly risk-averse culture that requires as little radiation as possible.”

President Trump has instructed the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to lower regulatory barriers through an executive order, including shortening the approval process for new nuclear power plants to 18 months. President Trump said, “This is the nuclear era, and we are going to push forward very, very hard.”

This executive order also includes provisions to provide funding, such as loan guarantees, for the expansion of nuclear power plants, including the restart of closed nuclear power plants and the completion of construction of nuclear power plants that have been suspended. The Secretary of Energy was instructed to work with the Administrator of the Small Business Administration to provide priority funding to companies with the ability to rapidly deploy advanced nuclear power technology. It also includes provisions to guarantee the mining, processing, and refining of nuclear minerals such as uranium. “

This action will turn back the clock on more than 50 years of over-regulation of the nuclear industry,” said Doug Burgum, the Trump administration’s “energy czar.” Since declaring a national energy emergency upon taking office on January 20, President Trump has continued to push for deregulation of fossil fuels, including expanding oil and gas drilling.