Brother Lelo | Truck drivers | ‘Incomprehensible’ SCOTUS

Tuesday, June 24, 2025

LOCAL

► From the Cascadia Daily News — Rep. Larsen meets with farmworker activist ‘Lelo’ in Tacoma detention center — U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen met with detained farmworker activist Alfredo “Lelo” Juarez Zeferino on Friday at the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, where the congressman also got a glimpse into the conditions in the facility…Larsen said he told Juarez Zeferino about the many community members outside his immediate circle in Skagit and Whatcom counties who are supporting him. Juarez Zeferino asked for Larsen’s help in being able to visit with his family in the same room, not separated by glass.

► From the Seattle Times — As pushback grows to WA immigration court arrests, ICE changes tactics — It’s one sign that the agency, under pressure to dramatically increase arrest numbers, is continually shifting its tactics. In the process, ICE is breaking norms, sowing confusion and sparking pushback that is also evolving. While ICE was absent from court that day, officers arrested a man as he was on his way there, as became apparent when his name was called and he didn’t show up. The man does not appear to have a criminal record in Washington, according to court records.

AEROSPACE

► From the Seattle Times — NTSB Chair says systemic failures led to door plug flying off Boeing 737 Max plane midflight — [National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy said] the investigation over the past 17 months found bigger problems than just the revelation that bolts securing what is known as the door plug panel were removed and never replaced during a repair because “an accident like this only happens when there are multiple system failures.”…Boeing factory workers told NTSB investigators they felt pressured to work too fast and were asked to perform jobs they weren’t qualified for, including opening and closing the door plug on the particular plane involved. Only one of the 24 people on the door team had ever removed one of these plugs before and that person was on vacation when it was done on the plane.

CONTRACT FIGHTS

► From KTVB — ‘Idaho won’t be left behind’: Albertsons workers in Boise, Nampa authorize strike — According to United Food and Commercial Workers Local 555, the vote, conducted June 15-16, received overwhelming support from hundreds of workers at affected locations. The authorization allows union leadership to call a strike in response to what they describe as violations of federal labor law by the grocery chain.

ORGANIZING

► From Capital & Main — Nurses Run Up Against Labor Board Stalled By Trump — Hundreds of nurses employed by the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center — the city’s largest employer — say they are having to fight just to schedule a union election. Meanwhile, their employer is justifying delays by citing the Trump administration’s changes to the National Labor Relations Board…On May 27, nurses with UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital filed a petition for a union election with the labor board’s regional office in Pittsburgh. They had been organizing with SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania since last year in response to problems they say make for bad jobs and worse care for patients: chronic understaffing, low wages and high turnover.

NATIONAL

► From the AP — Truckers fear job loss as new English language rules take effect — Brushing up on English has taken on new urgency for future and current truck drivers after President Donald Trump issued an executive order saying truckers who don’t read and speak the language proficiently would be considered unfit for service…Truckers who learned English as a second language are concerned they may lose their jobs if they make a mistake or speak with a heavy accent while under questioning. Some have worked to improve their English fluency by taking classes, reciting scripts and watching instructional videos.

► From the Guardian — The US’s June heatwave is a dangerous start to summer and about to get hotter –Temperatures like these are rare any time of the year, let alone in the initial days of summer. In New York City, there hasn’t been a heatwave like this in June in at least 30 years, and maybe ever. In the SoHo neighborhood of Manhattan, an unofficial weather station measured an air temperature of 100F with a dew point temperature of 82F at 3pm on Monday, making it feel like a whopping 126F…In an added worry for this year’s hottest stretch of the year, vulnerable households who do have air conditioning will have to face higher costs for operating them. In April, the Trump administration’s “department of government efficiency” (Doge) instituted mass layoffs at the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (Liheap) – a relatively small government program within the Department of Health and Human Services that distributes financial aid to about 6 million households nationwide.

► From the Fire & Safety Journal — IAFF launches online energy hazard guide for fire fighters — The IAFF stated that the guide is designed to help members identify risks and make informed decisions when facing energy-related hazards at emergency scenes. It covers utility vaults, electric vehicles, battery storage, solar panels, and high-voltage equipment increasingly present in both residential and industrial contexts. The IAFF noted that the tool is hosted on its Online Learning Center and contains reference material, personal protective equipment (PPE) advice, video demonstrations, and hazard identification markers.

► From the New York Times — Ruling in Abrego Garcia Case Casts Doubt on Trump Administration Claims — On Sunday night, 16 days later, a federal magistrate judge gave a far different assessment of the evidence presented so far: The department’s case had serious problems, relied heavily on deals with multiple informants, included dubious claims about his actions that bordered on “physical impossibility” and was rife with hearsay testimony…But Judge Holmes cast doubt on [AG Bondi’s] accusations in her decision, writing that the allegations came from “at least three, if not four or more, levels of hearsay” and carried “no weight” legally. “That the level of hearsay cannot even be determined renders the evidence patently unreliable,” she added.

POLITICS & POLICY

► From Bloomberg — US State Budget Wounds Intensify From Trump, DOGE Policy Shifts — The cuts under Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency come at a time when states were already bracing against flat revenue growth, rising costs from inflation and the end of billions of dollars in pandemic aid. And the $2.8 trillion Republican tax package, which would slash spending on Medicaid, food stamps and other poverty-fighting programs, has governors and lawmakers debating how, or if, they can find money to make up for the loss. Cities, towns and other local governments anticipate they’ll see their funding shrink.

► From Common Dreams — ‘Incomprehensible’: Liberal Justices Blast SCOTUS Decision Allowing Trump to Resume Third Country Deportations — In a blistering dissent, Sotomayor wrote that the ruling exposes “thousands to the risk of torture or death” and comes down on the side of the Trump administration even though it had violated the lower court’s order. Sotomayor was joined by Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson. “The government has made clear in word and deed that it feels itself unconstrained by law, free to deport anyone anywhere without notice or an opportunity to be heard,” she wrote in her dissent. “Apparently,” she continued, “the court finds the idea that thousands will suffer violence in farflung locales more palatable than the remote possibility that a District Court exceeded its remedial powers when it ordered the government to provide notice and process to which the plaintiffs are constitutionally and statutorily entitled. That use of discretion is as incomprehensible as it is inexcusable.”

► From Newsweek — Senate Bill Would Protect Thousands of Migrants From Deportation — Senate Democrats introduced new legislation to protect hundreds of thousands of immigrants who have had their legal status revoked by the Trump administration. The so-called Safe Environment from Countries Under Repression and Emergency (SECURE) Act would offer “long-term stability” for those under Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) programs, if it is able to pass in a Republican-controlled Congress.

► From the Government Executive — Most fed-targeting provisions in Senate reconciliation bill don’t pass Byrd muster — The Senate parliamentarian had ruled that most of the Senate’s proposals governing federal benefits and workforce policies violated the Byrd rule, which aims to limit reconciliation measure—and its simple majority threshold for passage—to topics that are budgetary in nature. Provisions that would require a 60-vote majority to advance include the plan to require all new federal employees to pay 9.4% toward the Federal Employees Retirement System and to choose between paying an additional 5 percentage points toward FERS or serving as at-will employees; a requirement that federal employees challenging an adverse action before the Merit Systems Protection Board pay a $350 filing fee, as well as a proposal to charge federal employee unions for use of agency property and official time on a quarterly basis.

► From the Hill — GOP senators warn Medicaid cuts in Trump megabill remain a problem — Senators, who have warned for weeks that the Medicaid spending cuts passed by the House last month will have a devastating impact on rural hospitals and reduce health care coverage in their states, say they have yet to see a plan from their leadership that they could support…Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) plans to bring the bill to the floor by Thursday or Friday this week.

► From Center for American Progress — Despite Musk’s Departure, Trump’s War Against Unions and Workers Will Continue — In fact, many of the Trump administration’s worst actions against the livelihoods and organizing rights of workers, both in the federal workforce and in the private sector, weren’t carried out by Elon Musk or DOGE. Despite the administration’s claim that President Trump is “putting American workers first,” the White House and federal agency heads are trying to end collective bargaining for more than 1 million government workers; hobble the agency overseeing collective bargaining rights for workers in the private sector; and cut the minimum wage for hundreds of thousands of federal contractors.

► From KUOW — The Trump administration is making an unprecedented reach for data held by states — The Trump administration’s push to rapidly amass sensitive personal information about hundreds of millions of people living in the U.S. is extending to a rich new vein of information: troves of databases run by states. In some instances, the data could be leveraged to enhance the federal government’s immigration enforcement efforts — a break with longstanding norms and practices that also raises legal questions…While data sharing across government entities can create efficiencies, it also risks running afoul of federal laws, which are supposed to guard against the federal government having unconstrained access to personal data. Under the Privacy Act of 1974, federal agencies are supposed to tell the public how they intend to use and safeguard personal data before they begin collecting it, and are not supposed to use data beyond that purpose.

► From the New York Times — At Justice Dept., Bove Suggested Violating Court Orders, Whistle-Blower Says –A senior Justice Department official, Emil Bove III, told subordinates he was willing to ignore court orders to fulfill the president’s aggressive deportation campaign, according to a whistle-blower complaint by a department lawyer who has since been fired. The account by the dismissed lawyer, Erez Reuveni, paints a disturbing portrait of his final three weeks on the front lines of the Trump administration’s legal efforts to ship immigrants overseas, often with little notice or recourse.

► From the Deseret News — Utah lieutenant governor confirms labor union referendum will go on the state’s ballot — The signature gathering effort for the referendum against Utah’s collective bargaining ban can now officially be declared successful as the referendum has been approved to go to a public vote. It has not yet been confirmed when the referendum will go on the ballot, but it is assumed it will go to vote during the 2026 general election. It is possible that a special election could be called earlier.

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