motherjones--2020-11-02--A Christian Foster Home Had a Troubling Past. Trump Gave It Millions to House Immigrant Kids Anyway.

This article was reported in partnership with Type Investigations , where Sarah Posner is a reporting fellow .
Last year , in the wake of a surge of asylum seekers fleeing violence in Central America , the United States government held a record 69,550 immigrant children in government facilities .
The vast majority of them arrived at the border without parents or guardians , though some were taken from their families during the Trump administration ’ s brutal family separation campaign .
Lawyers , watchdogs , and journalists raised alarms about the multiple traumas faced by these children , including @ @ @ @ @ @ @ abuse .
Billions of taxpayer dollars have gone to organizations running shelters to house these unaccompanied children , who are required by law to be put in the custody of the Department of Health and Human Services within 72 hours of being detained near the border .
But poor federal oversight and new rules favoring conservative Christian providers mean that children could end up in shelters that actively impose their religious beliefs—and that have troubling records of improper and excessive discipline .
Over the past 15 months , for example , the Department @ @ @ @ @ @ @ more than $ 87 million in taxpayer-funded grants to Sunny Glen Children ’ s Home in San Benito , Texas , to build and operate a 380-bed shelter for unaccompanied child migrants .
Sunny Glen is a small group foster care home run by the Churches of Christ , a network of autonomous evangelical churches with an estimated 1.4 million congregants in the United States that in many cases teaches strict adherence to the New Testament , particularly with regard to gender roles .
With a capacity for 40 children and 2018 revenues @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Glen had never before received a federal grant ; its total grant money for 2019 and 2020 was the second largest of 13 awards HHS made to organizations that hadn ’ t previously been funded by the unaccompanied minors residential shelter program .
The new federally funded facility , known as New Day Resiliency Center , is located in a former Walmart in nearby Raymondville , Texas , where the award was greeted with enthusiasm—it was slated to bring 600 new jobs to the economically strapped Rio Grande Valley .
( Among those @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the former chair of Sunny Glen ’ s board of directors and the college roommate of its current executive director , Chase Palmer ; his staffing and logistics company , SOG International , was contracted to help run New Day .
Lowry did not respond to an interview request . )
Immigrant rights advocates in the region , however , were unfamiliar with Sunny Glen , or its troubling track record of citations from state regulators for health and safety “ deficiencies.
” A review of the licensing database maintained by the Texas @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Mother Jones and Type Investigations revealed 140 such deficiencies at Sunny Glen since 2016 , including 17 after HHS first awarded its federal grant in July 2019 .
Thirty of Sunny Glen ’ s 140 citations were rated as high risk .
Three of those high-risk deficiencies involved violation of a state standard prohibiting “ restraints that obstruct child ’ s airway.
” Four others involved other prohibited physical or corporal punishments , including slapping , shaking , holding down children ’ s heads , and pushing a child against a wall .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ , video footage “ depicted two staff members administering a supine restraint on a youth ; one staff on top of child and the other staff was holding down youth ’ s legs , ” with “ no caregiver monitoring child ’ s breathing while the youth ’ s face was pushed down to the ground by a caregiver ’ s hand.
” Of the 99 Texas residential facilities licensed by the state to provide multiple services to children in their care , Sunny Glen has the third-highest number of deficiencies over the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is one of only eight providers of the 99 that had more than 100 deficiencies ; the vast majority—79 of 99—had fewer than 50 .
The Sunny Glen grant is particularly troubling given the often traumatic experiences unaccompanied child migrants face on their journeys north .
When HHS takes custody of unaccompanied child migrants , it is legally required to place them promptly in the “ least restrictive ” setting and provide them with proper developmental , medical , mental health , and educational care .
These kids first became a national story @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fleeing violence that President Barack Obama called the situation at the border “ a humanitarian crisis.
” DHS referred as many as 309,790 unaccompanied child migrants to HHS from 2014 through 2019 .
In 2016 , according to a former Obama administration Health and Human Services official , “ we worked really hard to expand the capacity of the provider network ” by contracting with smaller child care providers licensed by their state .
Based on guidance from child welfare experts , the former Obama official said , HHS concluded “ that it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ smaller state licensed facilities than having the federal government scramble to find the right contractor ” to open larger facilities each time there was a surge .
“ It wasn ’ t ideal for child welfare to have these massive facilities open .
It was expensive , and it wasn ’ t good for kids , ” the former official said .
But an explosive recent report from the Government Accountability Office found that HHS has failed to properly vet these smaller state-licensed facilities receiving money to shelter immigrant children under the department @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The watchdog report found that during 2018 and 2019 , the agency failed to properly monitor whether grantees were complying with state licensing requirements and investigate whether state regulators had cited them—like Texas regulators have cited Sunny Glen—for any performance or compliance issues .
In 2018 and 2019 , HHS ’ s grant announcements stated that applicants must report “ any and all documented state licensing allegations/concerns.
” But the GAO investigation found that “ the announcements do not make clear for what time period any such allegations and concerns should be reported.
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ risks awarding grants to organizations that can not obtain a state license or that have a history of poor performance.
” In fact , the GAO report found that out of 58 such grant applications that HHS approved in 2018 and 2019 , 43 did “ not include information about state licensing allegations or concerns.
” It is not clear whether GAO reviewed Sunny Glen ’ s grant ; a GAO spokesperson declined to disclose whether the agency had reviewed it and referred a request for documents relating to Sunny Glen to HHS @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The GAO report , said Connecticut Rep. Rosa DeLauro , the chair of the House subcommittee that oversees HHS funding , “ outlines much of what we predicted and feared : federal taxpayer dollars are at risk of being granted to facilities that compromise the safety and well-being of children .
We have seen the conditions many children face in these facilities and are committed to ensuring they are treated with the utmost care and compassion.
” DeLauro cited other ORR facilities she had visited , where she found “ kids under guard @ @ @ @ @ @ @ movement , ” poor medical and mental health care , and substandard educational curricula .
Asked for comment on the GAO report , an HHS spokesperson wrote in an email , “ Safety remains a top priority in the Office of Refugee Resettlement ( ORR ) .
ORR is committed to improving the safety of our program and , as such , concurred with the GAO recommendations.
” The spokesperson also wrote that ORR provides services for unaccompanied immigrant minors through grants to organizations that “ have demonstrated child welfare , social service @ @ @ @ @ @ @ licensed to provide care and associated services to dependent children , ” and that each application “ is reviewed by independent panels that base their review ” on the criteria in the request for proposal .
The panel review for Sunny Glen , the HHS spokesperson added , is not publicly available .
Mark Greenberg , the director of the Human Services Initiative at the Migration Policy Institute , a non-partisan Washington think tank , and a former top official in HHS ’ s Administration for Children and Families under Obama , said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s clear that ORR needs to revamp this process .
It ’ s crucial that the agency should have a good picture of a provider ’ s performance and be aware of deficiencies before deciding whether to award a grant.
” And , he added , “ when information about deficiencies is readily available from a state ’ s website , it surely makes sense to look at it and use it.
” The grant to Sunny Glen are also part of a pattern of preferential treatment for conservative Christians and the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ people by the Trump administration .
Under President Obama , federally funded , faith-based social service providers were required to provide written notice to the people they serve so that , if they objected to the provider ’ s religious nature , they could opt to receive services elsewhere .
But in 2018 , President Trump signed an executive order reversing those rules .
“ While Trump said he took these actions in the name of religious liberty , ” wrote Melissa Rogers , the former executive director of Obama ’ s White @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , “ he actually dealt religious freedom a blow.
” Trump ’ s HHS has taken several other steps to expand the ability of federally funded religious organizations to impose their beliefs on the people they serve or to deny service to people based on their religion .
Those have included a proposed 2019 regulation to relieve grantees from having to comply with certain nondiscrimination requirements—thus permitting federally-funded grantees to discriminate against the people they serve based on their sexual orientation , gender identity , or religious beliefs .
Trump ’ s HHS @ @ @ @ @ @ @ specifically protecting LGBTQ minors in foster care .
In 2011 , the Obama HHS issued an “ information memorandum ” stating that these kids “ may have specialized needs that relate specifically to their sexual orientation , gender identity or gender expression.
” According to HHS ’ s own research , in 2014 , there were one and a half to two times as many LGBTQ youth living in foster care versus in the general population , and that they experienced more mistreatment , hospitalization , and homelessness than their non-LGBTQ peers As @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Obama administration started requiring data collection on sexual orientation in order “ to help meet the needs of LGBTQ youth in foster care.
” The data , a coalition of LGBTQ rights groups says , “ is critical to understanding how LGBTQ youth experience the child welfare system and how states can best ensure their safety , permanency , and well-being.
” The Trump administration eliminated this requirement .
The Churches of Christ have made clear their position on LGBTQ issues ; in 2017 , when Texas passed a law allowing foster and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ religion , Churches of Christ-affiliated adoption and foster care agencies celebrated .
Chase Palmer , the Sunny Glen executive director and a Churches of Christ evangelist , said in a June 2018 sermon that marriage has been “ under attack ” by the government and the courts .
“ The government can recognize whatever the government chooses to recognize as a marriage or a union between two people—that does not mean that God ordains those things.
” Satan , he said , “ seeks nothing but to destroy what God brings together.
” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ story , saying HHS requires reporters to get permission from its media office in order for him to speak about the grant .
In response to a request for permission to interview Palmer , the HHS media office replied only to point to a database of the agency ’ s funding awards .
In an April 2019 presentation at the Church of Christ in College Park , Texas , Palmer said , “ What we strive to do [ at Sunny Glen ] is take children who were not afforded what God designed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ t have a loving mother that ’ s submissive to the leadership of a husband in the home.
” To provide for the children , many of whom come from abusive situations , Palmer said , “ our desire is to inject and expose these children , who come from very dark places of past , to the light—and not the light of good people who love him—but the light of Jesus Christ.
” In the June 2018 sermon titled “ I Want to Know More About God ’ s Design for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ he spanks his own children .
“ Josiah , when he was 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , it seemed like I spanked him every week .
But now that he ’ s 11 , I couldn ’ t tell you the last time I had to spank him , ” Palmer said .
He went on to lament “ the lack of men who are willing to be leaders in their homes , ” and that “ not having a strong male influence in a child ’ s life is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ life for those children.
” The administration ’ s Christian right allies have applauded HHS ’ s actions , claiming that requiring taxpayer-funded organizations like Sunny Glen to comply with laws prohibiting discrimination against LGBTQ people violates their religious freedom .
A coalition of Christian right organizations close to the White House , including Alliance Defending Freedom , Family Research Council , Heritage Foundation , and Concerned Women for America , launched a website promoting the Trump rollback of the non-discrimination rules , calling it the “ Keep Kids First Rule.
” They @ @ @ @ @ @ @ these providers to operate according to their beliefs without fear of government punishment.
” Concerned Women for America told supporters in an email that Obama had “ added rules to HHS nondiscrimination laws that require grant recipients to accept unorthodox , ideological views on gender and sexuality .
The result has sidelined faith-based providers , subjected them to lawsuits , and disqualified them from serving families and children.
” Shannon Royce , the current director of the Center for Faith and Opportunity Initiatives at HHS , even urged faith-based organizations to request religious @ @ @ @ @ @ @ discussion at the Heritage Foundation .
Congressional Republicans similarly have attacked nondiscrimination rules as infringements on Christians ’ religious freedom .
At a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing in late February , at which Democrats decried the misuse of religion to discriminate against LGBTQ people , lawmakers heard heart-wrenching testimony from their own colleague , New York Democrat Sean Maloney , about his experiences adopting children with his husband .
A man named Ernesto Olivares , now 29 , told them about his experiences in the Texas foster care system , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to go to a church where he had to hear “ that I would go to hell for being gay and that I wasn ’ t normal.
” Rep. James Comer , a Kentucky Republican , nonetheless insisted that faith-based organizations need “ freedom from government coercion.
” He claimed , “ Many Americans have concerns about how this has swung out of proportion ” into “ mandating acceptance of an ideology.
” He cited a visit he paid to New Pathways for Children—a foster care home in his district that , like @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Churches of Christ—where “ children are encouraged to explore faith ” through “ biblical study , retreats , camps , and mission trips.
” Under Trump administration rules , Sunny Glen could impose its religious views—on gender roles , on punishment , and more—on the children housed at New Day .
“ Vulnerable children relying on the government for safe shelter should never be forced to pray , participate in religious activities , or believe in a faith that is not their own , ” said Maggie Garrett , vice president for public @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Church and State .
“ That is religious freedom as promised by our Constitution , and the government has a responsibility to make that clear to any agency seeking taxpayer money to provide services.
” For now , with the border closed due to COVID-19 , HHS says just 30 children are housed at New Day .
But the grant requires the government to continue paying Sunny Glen to maintain staffing should a surge once again create an urgent need to shelter unaccompanied minors .
“ It essentially comes down to a per @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Obama administration official—and if the rate were $ 200- $ 250 per day for hundreds of beds , “ you get to $ 87 million pretty quickly .
”

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This article was reported in partnership with Type Investigations, where Sarah Posner is a reporting fellow.
Last year, in the wake of a surge of asylum seekers fleeing violence in Central America, the United States government held a record 69,550 immigrant children in government facilities. The vast majority of them arrived at the border without parents or guardians, though some were taken from their families during the Trump administration’s brutal family separation campaign. Lawyers, watchdogs, and journalists raised alarms about the multiple traumas faced by these children, including neglect, medical deprivation, and sexual abuse.
Billions of taxpayer dollars have gone to organizations running shelters to house these unaccompanied children, who are required by law to be put in the custody of the Department of Health and Human Services within 72 hours of being detained near the border. But poor federal oversight and new rules favoring conservative Christian providers mean that children could end up in shelters that actively impose their religious beliefs—and that have troubling records of improper and excessive discipline.
Over the past 15 months, for example, the Department of Health and Human Services has paid more than $87 million in taxpayer-funded grants to Sunny Glen Children’s Home in San Benito, Texas, to build and operate a 380-bed shelter for unaccompanied child migrants. Sunny Glen is a small group foster care home run by the Churches of Christ, a network of autonomous evangelical churches with an estimated 1.4 million congregants in the United States that in many cases teaches strict adherence to the New Testament, particularly with regard to gender roles. With a capacity for 40 children and 2018 revenues of just $2.5 million, Sunny Glen had never before received a federal grant; its total grant money for 2019 and 2020 was the second largest of 13 awards HHS made to organizations that hadn’t previously been funded by the unaccompanied minors residential shelter program.
The new federally funded facility, known as New Day Resiliency Center, is located in a former Walmart in nearby Raymondville, Texas, where the award was greeted with enthusiasm—it was slated to bring 600 new jobs to the economically strapped Rio Grande Valley. (Among those to cash in was Wayne Lowry, the former chair of Sunny Glen’s board of directors and the college roommate of its current executive director, Chase Palmer; his staffing and logistics company, SOG International, was contracted to help run New Day. Lowry did not respond to an interview request.) Immigrant rights advocates in the region, however, were unfamiliar with Sunny Glen, or its troubling track record of citations from state regulators for health and safety “deficiencies.”
In one reported incident from May 2017, video footage “depicted two staff members administering a supine restraint on a youth; one staff on top of child and the other staff was holding down youth’s legs.”
A review of the licensing database maintained by the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services by Mother Jones and Type Investigations revealed 140 such deficiencies at Sunny Glen since 2016, including 17 after HHS first awarded its federal grant in July 2019. Thirty of Sunny Glen’s 140 citations were rated as high risk. Three of those high-risk deficiencies involved violation of a state standard prohibiting “restraints that obstruct child’s airway.” Four others involved other prohibited physical or corporal punishments, including slapping, shaking, holding down children’s heads, and pushing a child against a wall. In one reported incident from May 2017, video footage “depicted two staff members administering a supine restraint on a youth; one staff on top of child and the other staff was holding down youth’s legs,” with “no caregiver monitoring child’s breathing while the youth’s face was pushed down to the ground by a caregiver’s hand.”
Of the 99 Texas residential facilities licensed by the state to provide multiple services to children in their care, Sunny Glen has the third-highest number of deficiencies over the same period of time. Sunny Glen is one of only eight providers of the 99 that had more than 100 deficiencies; the vast majority—79 of 99—had fewer than 50.
The Sunny Glen grant is particularly troubling given the often traumatic experiences unaccompanied child migrants face on their journeys north. When HHS takes custody of unaccompanied child migrants, it is legally required to place them promptly in the “least restrictive” setting and provide them with proper developmental, medical, mental health, and educational care. These kids first became a national story in 2014, when so many arrived fleeing violence that President Barack Obama called the situation at the border “a humanitarian crisis.” DHS referred as many as 309,790 unaccompanied child migrants to HHS from 2014 through 2019.
In 2016, according to a former Obama administration Health and Human Services official, “we worked really hard to expand the capacity of the provider network” by contracting with smaller child care providers licensed by their state. Based on guidance from child welfare experts, the former Obama official said, HHS concluded “that it was better for kids to be in smaller state licensed facilities than having the federal government scramble to find the right contractor” to open larger facilities each time there was a surge. “It wasn’t ideal for child welfare to have these massive facilities open. It was expensive, and it wasn’t good for kids,” the former official said.
But an explosive recent report from the Government Accountability Office found that HHS has failed to properly vet these smaller state-licensed facilities receiving money to shelter immigrant children under the department’s Office of Refugee Resettlement. The watchdog report found that during 2018 and 2019, the agency failed to properly monitor whether grantees were complying with state licensing requirements and investigate whether state regulators had cited them—like Texas regulators have cited Sunny Glen—for any performance or compliance issues.
In 2018 and 2019, HHS’s grant announcements stated that applicants must report “any and all documented state licensing allegations/concerns.” But the GAO investigation found that “the announcements do not make clear for what time period any such allegations and concerns should be reported.” As a result, “ORR risks awarding grants to organizations that cannot obtain a state license or that have a history of poor performance.” In fact, the GAO report found that out of 58 such grant applications that HHS approved in 2018 and 2019, 43 did “not include information about state licensing allegations or concerns.” It is not clear whether GAO reviewed Sunny Glen’s grant; a GAO spokesperson declined to disclose whether the agency had reviewed it and referred a request for documents relating to Sunny Glen to HHS, which declined to provide them.
The GAO report, said Connecticut Rep. Rosa DeLauro, “outlines much of what we predicted and feared: federal taxpayer dollars are at risk of being granted to facilities that compromise the safety and well-being of children.”
The GAO report, said Connecticut Rep. Rosa DeLauro, the chair of the House subcommittee that oversees HHS funding, “outlines much of what we predicted and feared: federal taxpayer dollars are at risk of being granted to facilities that compromise the safety and well-being of children. We have seen the conditions many children face in these facilities and are committed to ensuring they are treated with the utmost care and compassion.” DeLauro cited other ORR facilities she had visited, where she found “kids under guard,” with “no freedom of movement,” poor medical and mental health care, and substandard educational curricula.
Asked for comment on the GAO report, an HHS spokesperson wrote in an email, “Safety remains a top priority in the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR). ORR is committed to improving the safety of our program and, as such, concurred with the GAO recommendations.” The spokesperson also wrote that ORR provides services for unaccompanied immigrant minors through grants to organizations that “have demonstrated child welfare, social service, or related experience and are appropriately licensed to provide care and associated services to dependent children,” and that each application “is reviewed by independent panels that base their review” on the criteria in the request for proposal. The panel review for Sunny Glen, the HHS spokesperson added, is not publicly available.
Mark Greenberg, the director of the Human Services Initiative at the Migration Policy Institute, a non-partisan Washington think tank, and a former top official in HHS’s Administration for Children and Families under Obama, said of the GAO report, “It’s clear that ORR needs to revamp this process. It’s crucial that the agency should have a good picture of a provider’s performance and be aware of deficiencies before deciding whether to award a grant.” And, he added, “when information about deficiencies is readily available from a state’s website, it surely makes sense to look at it and use it.”
The grant to Sunny Glen are also part of a pattern of preferential treatment for conservative Christians and the continued reversal of nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ people by the Trump administration. Under President Obama, federally funded, faith-based social service providers were required to provide written notice to the people they serve so that, if they objected to the provider’s religious nature, they could opt to receive services elsewhere. But in 2018, President Trump signed an executive order reversing those rules. “While Trump said he took these actions in the name of religious liberty,” wrote Melissa Rogers, the former executive director of Obama’s White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnership, “he actually dealt religious freedom a blow.”
Trump’s HHS has taken several other steps to expand the ability of federally funded religious organizations to impose their beliefs on the people they serve or to deny service to people based on their religion. Those have included a proposed 2019 regulation to relieve grantees from having to comply with certain nondiscrimination requirements—thus permitting federally-funded grantees to discriminate against the people they serve based on their sexual orientation, gender identity, or religious beliefs.
“While Trump said he took these actions in the name of religious liberty, he actually dealt religious freedom a blow.”
Trump’s HHS has also rolled back other Obama-era policies specifically protecting LGBTQ minors in foster care. In 2011, the Obama HHS issued an “information memorandum” stating that these kids “may have specialized needs that relate specifically to their sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression.” According to HHS’s own research, in 2014, there were one and a half to two times as many LGBTQ youth living in foster care versus in the general population, and that they experienced more mistreatment, hospitalization, and homelessness than their non-LGBTQ peers
As a result, in 2016, the Obama administration started requiring data collection on sexual orientation in order “to help meet the needs of LGBTQ youth in foster care.” The data, a coalition of LGBTQ rights groups says, “is critical to understanding how LGBTQ youth experience the child welfare system and how states can best ensure their safety, permanency, and well-being.” The Trump administration eliminated this requirement.
The Churches of Christ have made clear their position on LGBTQ issues; in 2017, when Texas passed a law allowing foster and adoption care agencies to discriminate based on religion, Churches of Christ-affiliated adoption and foster care agencies celebrated. Chase Palmer, the Sunny Glen executive director and a Churches of Christ evangelist, said in a June 2018 sermon that marriage has been “under attack” by the government and the courts. “The government can recognize whatever the government chooses to recognize as a marriage or a union between two people—that does not mean that God ordains those things.” Satan, he said, “seeks nothing but to destroy what God brings together.”
Palmer declined to be interviewed for this story, saying HHS requires reporters to get permission from its media office in order for him to speak about the grant. In response to a request for permission to interview Palmer, the HHS media office replied only to point to a database of the agency’s funding awards.
“What we strive to do [at Sunny Glen] is take children who were not afforded what God designed for them to have. They don’t have a loving mother that’s submissive to the leadership of a husband in the home.”
In an April 2019 presentation at the Church of Christ in College Park, Texas, Palmer said, “What we strive to do [at Sunny Glen] is take children who were not afforded what God designed for them to have. They don’t have a loving mother that’s submissive to the leadership of a husband in the home.” To provide for the children, many of whom come from abusive situations, Palmer said, “our desire is to inject and expose these children, who come from very dark places of past, to the light—and not the light of good people who love him—but the light of Jesus Christ.”
In the June 2018 sermon titled “I Want to Know More About God’s Design for My Family,” Palmer admitted that he spanks his own children. “Josiah, when he was 2, 3, 4, 5, it seemed like I spanked him every week. But now that he’s 11, I couldn’t tell you the last time I had to spank him,” Palmer said. He went on to lament “the lack of men who are willing to be leaders in their homes,” and that “not having a strong male influence in a child’s life is a great contributor to future problems in life for those children.”
The administration’s Christian right allies have applauded HHS’s actions, claiming that requiring taxpayer-funded organizations like Sunny Glen to comply with laws prohibiting discrimination against LGBTQ people violates their religious freedom. A coalition of Christian right organizations close to the White House, including Alliance Defending Freedom, Family Research Council, Heritage Foundation, and Concerned Women for America, launched a website promoting the Trump rollback of the non-discrimination rules, calling it the “Keep Kids First Rule.” They argued, “the First Amendment allows these providers to operate according to their beliefs without fear of government punishment.” Concerned Women for America told supporters in an email that Obama had “added rules to HHS nondiscrimination laws that require grant recipients to accept unorthodox, ideological views on gender and sexuality. The result has sidelined faith-based providers, subjected them to lawsuits, and disqualified them from serving families and children.” Shannon Royce, the current director of the Center for Faith and Opportunity Initiatives at HHS, even urged faith-based organizations to request religious accommodations from HHS in a 2018 panel discussion at the Heritage Foundation.
Congressional Republicans similarly have attacked nondiscrimination rules as infringements on Christians’ religious freedom. At a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing in late February, at which Democrats decried the misuse of religion to discriminate against LGBTQ people, lawmakers heard heart-wrenching testimony from their own colleague, New York Democrat Sean Maloney, about his experiences adopting children with his husband. A man named Ernesto Olivares, now 29, told them about his experiences in the Texas foster care system, describing how “hurtful” it was to go to a church where he had to hear “that I would go to hell for being gay and that I wasn’t normal.” Rep. James Comer, a Kentucky Republican, nonetheless insisted that faith-based organizations need “freedom from government coercion.” He claimed, “Many Americans have concerns about how this has swung out of proportion” into “mandating acceptance of an ideology.” He cited a visit he paid to New Pathways for Children—a foster care home in his district that, like Sunny Glen, is run by the Churches of Christ—where “children are encouraged to explore faith” through “biblical study, retreats, camps, and mission trips.”
“Vulnerable children relying on the government for safe shelter should never be forced to pray, participate in religious activities, or believe in a faith that is not their own.”
Under Trump administration rules, Sunny Glen could impose its religious views—on gender roles, on punishment, and more—on the children housed at New Day. “Vulnerable children relying on the government for safe shelter should never be forced to pray, participate in religious activities, or believe in a faith that is not their own,” said Maggie Garrett, vice president for public policy at Americans United for Separation of Church and State. “That is religious freedom as promised by our Constitution, and the government has a responsibility to make that clear to any agency seeking taxpayer money to provide services.”
For now, with the border closed due to COVID-19, HHS says just 30 children are housed at New Day. But the grant requires the government to continue paying Sunny Glen to maintain staffing should a surge once again create an urgent need to shelter unaccompanied minors. “It essentially comes down to a per day rate,” said the former Obama administration official—and if the rate were $200-$250 per day for hundreds of beds, “you get to $87 million pretty quickly.”


motherjones--2020-11-03--These Activists Are Building Shields to Prepare for Whatever Comes Next

On this warm October afternoon , 30 people have gathered for a shield building party in West Oakland ’ s Lil Bobby Hutton Park .
They kneel on a tarp splotched with spray-paint and glitter , stenciling slogans onto two–by–four-foot plywood rectangles with rounded corners that have been buzz-sawed in batches of three .
The shields are hefty , but are easily carried with one arm through the straps that are being attached to each one after it ’ s painted , along with a strip of foam to protect the forearm of someone carrying a shield for hours .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ Oakland Builders Collective , a volunteer crew that has spent the past few months making 500 shields for protesters to use to protect themselves .
So far , the collective has provided custom-made shields to more than 10 activist groups in 5 Bay Area cities .
Even with the help of dozens of volunteers like those who have come out today , it is “ already beyond capacity , ” says Forrest Schmidt , one of the group ’ s founders .
Among the shield builders is a 29-year-old non-binary farmer and medic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ first used a shield at a racial justice protest this summer .
One night in August , Sasha had arrived in downtown Oakland with a toolbelt loaded with granola bars , herbs to clean wounds , and a spray bottle filled with Maalox and water ( a tear gas remedy ) .
A hundred or so people had intended to march peacefully , but when someone smashed windows at a Whole Foods , police in riot gear moved in and declared the gathering an “ unlawful assembly.
” Fear and confusion splintered the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ plywood shield .
“ I don ’ t even know what I ’ m gon na do with this , ” they recall thinking .
“ There ’ s so many more cops than shields.
” But as Sasha watched people run from the police , they could see how the marchers might have held their ground if they ’ d had more shields and better training—which is why they ’ re here making shields today .
As millions of Americans came out to protest peacefully after George Floyd ’ s killing in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with batons , pepper spray , tear gas , and projectiles .
( As writer Craig Jenkins observed , “ they couldn ’ t even stop doing police brutality at the police brutality protest.
” ) There ’ s no comprehensive data on the number of people officers injured , yet nearly 1,000 instances of police brutality have been documented ; a class action lawsuit alleges that federal agents wounded hundreds in Portland alone .
The violent response left some activists wondering what might happen if mass demonstrations became necessary to protest or @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Bay Area have spent recent months making and distributing shields , helmets , gas masks , and other tools to protect protesters .
“ We don ’ t want people getting hurt anymore , ” says Eddie , another shield builder who wanted to withhold their real name .
Cops often point to broken windows and objects being thrown claim that protesters get violent first , but in Eddie ’ s experience , it ’ s “ always ” the police who escalate .
“ Rather than us just being there as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be proactive , ” by building shields , he says .
He thinks American activists are “ fortunate ” to have not faced the kinds of violence and repression seen in places like Venezuela and Ukraine .
But just because the police haven ’ t gone to such extremes , says Eddie , it “ doesn ’ t mean that they ’ re not willing to.
” Homemade defenses for protesters are as old as efforts to shut down protests .
French dissidents have long built fearsome barricades , a practice Victor Hugo @ @ @ @ @ @ @ insane but heroic defiance.
” A shield-making manual published in 2012 and used by activists today credits its approach to the “ White Overalls ” movement of the 1990s , which buoyed anti-globalization protests by flooding Europe ’ s streets with dense crowds protected by rubber inner tubes .
More recently , Portland ’ s “ Wall of Moms ” inspired copycats overseas when it protected demonstrators by linking up with pool noodles .
The Oakland shield builders have also sought inspiration from videos of Hong Kongers using umbrellas and leaf-blowers to avoid @ @ @ @ @ @ @ stop signs and kitchen sinks .
Yet protesters aren ’ t the only ones practicing such “ tactical innovation , ” explains Ashley Howard , a history professor at the University of Iowa who studies race and public protest .
Today ’ s protesters are staring down heavily equipped cops who are sometimes armed with water cannons , sonic weapons , and powerful stink bombs .
( The National Guard considered using heat rays on protesters in Washington , DC this summer . )
“ Non-lethal ” projectiles like bean bag rounds and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ eyes , and sometimes kill .
And then there are the planes that can mop up cellphone data and artificial intelligence platforms that use social media to track activists .
“ The new methods of controlling protest are very powerful , ” Harris says .
It ’ s not just police violence activists are worried about .
Protests have also attracted armed counterprotesters like Kyle Rittenhouse , the 17-year-old who allegedly shot and killed two people and injured a third in Kenosha , Wisconsin .
The deadly car attack on antiracist protesters in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Heyer and injured 28 others in 2017 , nearly replayed itself dozens of times this summer .
“ For so long Americans have taken for granted that if we go out to protest , we ’ ll come home that night , ” Harris says .
“ Many instances over the past few years have called that into question.
” Yet , she notes , “ People are still willing to put themselves on the line to protect their ability to fully engage in this country.
” While the shield makers I interviewed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ none suggested it was the only reason they were thinking about self-defense .
They expect to be out in the streets again soon regardless of who wins the presidency .
Many community groups—including some “ that you wouldn ’ t think would support frontline rowdy protests , ” says Schmidt—have requested shields , anticipating a need for protection whether they ’ re mobilizing against an attempt to steal the election for President Donald Trump or continued police brutality during a Biden administration .
Schmidt sees shields as a kind of insurance , a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they can stand up to defend democracy .
“ It ’ s easier to think through elections , ” he says , “ if you ’ re not afraid for your life.
” He witnessed the utility of shields in Berkeley in 2017 , when right-wing extremists hurled batteries and unopened soda cans at antifascist demonstrators .
Schmidt noticed people protecting themselves with black-painted shields that were “ very anarchist-y.
” ( The Oakland Builders Collective ’ s shields are painted in bright colors with recognizable slogans that are meant to make them @ @ @ @ @ @ @ trustworthy to diverse crowds . )
Along with a group called Gear Up Oakland , the collective has raised money to distribute shields as well as gas masks and bulletproof vests to activists .
Rachel Lederman , an attorney with the National Lawyers Guild , which provides legal support to protesters , says it is legal to bring shields to demonstrations in California .
However , she says , if a shield were used aggressively against a police officer or to obstruct an arrest , prosecutors might label it a weapon , leading @ @ @ @ @ @ @ says they ’ ve seen cops confiscate shields and target shield-carriers for arrest .
Schmidt was recently charged with assault with a deadly weapon on a police officer for allegedly throwing a smoke grenade during a rally ; he believes this was a pretense to search his apartment for shield-making materials and instructions .
A shield isn ’ t worth much if you don ’ t know how to use it , so the Builders Collective leads weekly trainings next to Lake Merritt in downtown Oakland .
On a recent Sunday , an @ @ @ @ @ @ @ group of 21 trainees showed up to learn how to protect themselves by forming walls of overlapping shields .
An advanced group , most wearing helmets , practiced using their shields in a testudo or “ turtle ” formation , a technique used by ancient Roman armies and still employedby police .
The technique , which creates a covered wall around the shield bearers , could help protect protesters—and their eyes—from projectiles .
At least 20 people were blinded or suffered serious eye damage from rubber bullets during this year ’ s protests @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ” the trainers invited participants to chuck objects at the formation .
A hailstorm of helmets , shoes , and metal water bottles rained down , but no one behind the plywood was hurt .
The shield wall also withstood the trainers ramming it with batons and hurling themselves against it .
One of those inside the turtle was Sasha , who has attended several trainings and now feels more confident with a shield .
But they still think being in the streets will be different .
“ When you ’ re @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , it ’ s like your brain starts to work in a different way , ” they say .
“ It ’ s good to go out with a group of people that have practiced together and trained together , that have each other ’ s backs.
” Sasha sees shield-making as part of a larger project to “ demystify the police ” and empower protesters .
“ People are ready to engage in community self-defense in a way that I haven ’ t seen people be ready to do for a long @ @ @ @ @ @ @ shield build in the park .
“ People who would normally think , ‘ The cops are here to protect us ’ are realizing that that ’ s not true.
” Nearby , a teacher is stenciling a shield spray-painted lavender and periwinkle with the slogan “ WE KEEP US SAFE .
”

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On this warm October afternoon, 30 people have gathered for a shield building party in West Oakland’s Lil Bobby Hutton Park. They kneel on a tarp splotched with spray-paint and glitter, stenciling slogans onto 2–by–4-foot plywood rectangles with rounded corners that have been buzz-sawed in batches of three. The shields are hefty, but are easily carried with one arm through the straps that are being attached to each one after it’s painted, along with a strip of foam to protect the forearm of someone carrying it for hours.
The shields are a project of the Oakland Builders Collective, a volunteer crew that has spent the past few months making 500 shields for protesters to use to protect themselves. So far, the collective has provided custom-made shields to more than 10 activist groups in 5 Bay Area cities. Even with the help of dozens of volunteers like those who have come out today, it is “already beyond capacity,” says F., one of the group’s founders, who requested that his name not be used out of concerns around doxxing.
Among the shield builders is a 29-year-old nonbinary farmer and medic I’ll call Sasha, who first used a shield at a racial justice protest this summer. One night in August, Sasha had arrived in downtown Oakland with a toolbelt loaded with granola bars, herbs to clean wounds, and a spray bottle filled with Maalox and water (a tear gas remedy). A hundred or so people had intended to march peacefully, but when someone smashed windows at a Whole Foods, police in riot gear moved in and declared the gathering an “unlawful assembly.”
Fear and confusion splintered the crowd, and someone handed Sasha a plywood shield. “I don’t even know what I’m gonna do with this,” they recall thinking. “There’s so many more cops than shields.” But as Sasha watched people run from the police, they could see how the marchers might have held their ground if they’d had more shields and better training—which is why they’re here making shields today.
As millions of Americans came out to protest peacefully after George Floyd’s killing in May, police in many cities responded with batons, pepper spray, tear gas, and projectiles. (As writer Craig Jenkins observed, “They couldn’t even stop doing police brutality at the police brutality protest.”) There’s no comprehensive data on the number of people officers injured, yet nearly 1,000 instances of police brutality have been documented; a class action lawsuit alleges that federal agents wounded hundreds in Portland alone.
The violent response left some activists wondering what might happen if mass demonstrations became necessary to protest or protect the election results. Organizers in the Bay Area have spent recent months making and distributing shields, helmets, gas masks, and other tools to protect protesters. “We don’t want people getting hurt anymore,” says Eddie, another shield builder who wanted to withhold their real name. Cops often point to broken windows and objects being thrown claim that protesters get violent first, but in Eddie’s experience, it’s “always” the police who escalate. “Rather than us just being there as targets, we’re trying to be proactive,” by building shields, he says. He thinks American activists are “fortunate” to have not faced the kinds of violence and repression seen in places like Venezuela and Ukraine. But just because the police haven’t gone to such extremes, says Eddie, it “doesn’t mean that they’re not willing to.”
Homemade defenses for protesters are as old as efforts to shut down protests. French dissidents have long built fearsome barricades, a practice Victor Hugo immortalized in Les Misérables as “an insane but heroic defiance.” A shield-making manual published in 2012 and used by activists today credits its approach to the “White Overalls” movement of the 1990s, which buoyed anti-globalization protests by flooding Europe’s streets with dense crowds protected by rubber inner tubes. More recently, Portland’s “Wall of Moms” inspired copycats overseas when it protected demonstrators by linking up with pool noodles. The Oakland shield builders have also sought inspiration from videos of Hong Kongers using umbrellas and leaf-blowers to avoid tear gas and Chileans shielding themselves with stop signs and kitchen sinks.
Yet protesters aren’t the only ones practicing such “tactical innovation,” explains Ashley Howard, a history professor at the University of Iowa who studies race and public protest. Today’s protesters are staring down heavily equipped cops who are sometimes armed with water cannons, sonic weapons, and powerful stink bombs. (The National Guard considered using heat rays on protesters in Washington, DC this summer.) “Non-lethal” projectiles like bean bag rounds and rubber bullets can fracture skulls, damage eyes, and sometimes kill. And then there are the planes that can mop up cellphone data and artificial intelligence platforms that use social media to track activists. “The new methods of controlling protest are very powerful,” Howard says.
It’s not just police violence activists are worried about. Protests have also attracted armed counterprotesters like Kyle Rittenhouse, the 17-year-old who allegedly shot and killed two people and injured a third in Kenosha, Wisconsin. The deadly car attack on antiracist protesters in Charlottesville, Virginia, which killed Heather Heyer and injured 28 others in 2017, nearly replayed itself dozens of times this summer. “For so long Americans have taken for granted that if we go out to protest, we’ll come home that night,” Howard says. “Many instances over the past few years have called that into question.” Yet, she notes, “People are still willing to put themselves on the line to protect their ability to fully engage in this country.”
While the shield makers I interviewed had serious concerns about the election, none suggested it was the only reason they were thinking about self-defense. They expect to be out in the streets again soon regardless of who wins the presidency. Many community groups—including some “that you wouldn’t think would support frontline rowdy protests,” says F.—have requested shields, anticipating a need for protection whether they’re mobilizing against an attempt to steal the election for President Donald Trump or continued police brutality during a Biden administration.
F. sees shields as a kind of insurance, a way to make people feel safer so they can stand up to defend democracy. “It’s easier to think through elections,” he says, “if you’re not afraid for your life.” He witnessed the utility of shields in Berkeley in 2017, when right-wing extremists hurled batteries and unopened soda cans at antifascist demonstrators. F. noticed people protecting themselves with black-painted shields that were “very anarchist-y.” (The Oakland Builders Collective’s shields are painted in bright colors with recognizable slogans that are meant to make them and their bearers less intimidating and more trustworthy to diverse crowds.) Along with a group called Gear Up Oakland, the collective has raised money to distribute shields as well as gas masks and bulletproof vests to activists.
Rachel Lederman, an attorney with the National Lawyers Guild, which provides legal support to protesters, says it is legal to bring shields to demonstrations in California. However, she says, if a shield were used aggressively against a police officer or to obstruct an arrest, prosecutors might label it a weapon, leading to a more serious charge. Sasha says they’ve seen cops confiscate shields and target shield-carriers for arrest. F. was recently charged with assault with a deadly weapon on a police officer for allegedly throwing a smoke grenade during a rally; he believes this was a pretense to search his apartment for shield-making materials and instructions.
A shield isn’t worth much if you don’t know how to use it, so the Builders Collective leads weekly trainings next to Lake Merritt in downtown Oakland. On a recent Sunday, an ethnically, generationally, and gender diverse group of 21 trainees showed up to learn how to protect themselves by forming walls of overlapping shields.
An advanced group, most wearing helmets, practiced using their shields in a testudo or “turtle” formation, a technique used by ancient Roman armies and still employed by police. The technique, which creates a covered wall around the shield bearers, could help protect protesters—and their eyes—from projectiles. At least 20 people were blinded or suffered serious eye damage from rubber bullets during this year’s protests. Once the shields were “turtled,” the trainers invited participants to chuck objects at the formation. A hailstorm of helmets, shoes, and metal water bottles rained down, but no one behind the plywood was hurt. The shield wall also withstood the trainers ramming it with batons and hurling themselves against it.
One of those inside the turtle was Sasha, who has attended several trainings and now feels more confident with a shield. But they still think being in the streets will be different. “When you’re scared, and when you have adrenaline, it’s like your brain starts to work in a different way,” they say. “It’s good to go out with a group of people that have practiced together and trained together, that have each other’s backs.”
Sasha sees shield-making as part of a larger project to “demystify the police” and empower protesters. “People are ready to engage in community self-defense in a way that I haven’t seen people be ready to do for a long time,” they say at the shield build in the park. “People who would normally think, ‘The cops are here to protect us’ are realizing that that’s not true.” Nearby, a teacher is stenciling a shield spray-painted lavender and periwinkle with the slogan “WE KEEP US SAFE.”
This article has been updated to change the name of a confidential source.


motherjones--2020-11-03--What Jaime Harrison Built

What Jaime Harrison Built

Nearly a year ago , Jaime Harrison told me he was going to go “ everywhere ” in South Carolina in his challenge to Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham .
That was the advice Stacey Abrams , the former Georgia gubernatorial candidate , had given him , and it ’ s a strategy he himself had preached as an associate chair of Democratic National Committee tasked with overseeing the party ’ s strategy in the South .
“ You can win in the South , but you have to invest , ” Harrison told me back then .
“ You have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and the big thing is you have to persuade them that an election is important enough for them to come out and vote.
” That was the base layer of Harrison ’ s grand theory of how Democrats could win in the region , one that admittedly sounded rosy against the backdrop of a deep-red state and a race against one of the most recognizable GOP senators in the country .
Long before Harrison was the Democratic It Kid he ’ s become , I traveled down to South Carolina to see @ @ @ @ @ @ @ two days and 400 miles , I watched Harrison hold events at four of the state ’ s historically Black colleges , most of which were attended by only a handful of students and faculty .
On the walks to and from the car , he ’ d stop the custodians , the secretaries , and the students rushing to class to introduce himself and ask them about their day .
“ You can ’ t give up on anybody , ” Harrison told me , another Abrams-ism she ’ d passed along @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , didn ’ t happen .
Harrison had been a third of the way through a 46-county tour when the coronavirus pandemic forced him off the trail in March .
But the bet Harrison made about the viability of a Democrat in South Carolina just might come to pass .
In the weeks leading up to Election Day , race watchers began to rate Harrison ’ s challenge to Graham a toss-up , a massive shift from a year ago when Harrison ’ s challenge barely registered on their radars .
Win or @ @ @ @ @ @ @ proven what he told me he was setting out to do at this time last year : “ Getting people to believe ” that the Democratic spirit “ is alive and well in the South.
” When I caught up with Harrison at the end of October , he sounded a lot like the rest of us .
“ I ’ m tired , ” he told me .
“ November 3 can ’ t come soon enough.
” The campaign had reached its final crescendo , but Harrison was still balancing school @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 1-year-old with his wife , who ’ s teaching 200 students between two classes at the University of South Carolina ’ s law school .
The largely virtual existence had spared him the “ whole-body experience ” of campaigning in the South , but that was supposed to be his way in .
“ You ’ re eating , you ’ re fellowshipping , you ’ re connecting with people , telling stories , and to not be able to do that is difficult , ” Harrison says .
“ And running against @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ID , and your name ID is less than 20 is , you know , even more difficult.
” Money , of course , has helped make up the difference .
The flow of it may have had less to do with Harrison than who he was up against .
Though Graham once enjoyed a reputation for being a reasonable ( albeit staunch ) conservative , 2020 has been one long opportunity for the three-term senator to show his fealty to Trump , to whom he ’ s taken , in the words @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , like a “ pilot fish ” who “ hovers about a larger predator , like a shark , living off its detritus.
” Graham has defended his president against an impeachment vote , shuttled a late-breaking conservative SCOTUS nominee through the confirmation process , and toed Trump ’ s line on COVID-19 , refusing tests , masks , and relief bills at every turn .
Harrison , meanwhile , followed in his wake like an ActBlue ShamWow , absorbing liberals ’ frustrations in dollars and cents .
The Democrat has raised a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ million of it flowed in from July through September alone , shattering the record for the highest quarterly fundraising total of any US Senate candidate .
The mammoth amount allowed Harrison to get advertisements up on television as soon as it became unsafe for him to campaign in person .
“ It was important for folks to get to know who I was , ” he says .
But for all the ways national attention has powered the race , Harrison tries not to let his own attention veer too far beyond state @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the bait , for example , when I asked him whether he thought Sen. Dianne Feinstein ’ s ( D-Calif. ) embrace of Graham , both literally and figuratively‚ at the conclusion of Amy Coney Barrett ’ s Supreme Court confirmation had hurt his case .
“ That ’ s water under the bridge for me , ” Harrison tells me .
“ I try to leave the Washington , DC , stuff—there are enough pundits to talk about that.
” He pivoted back to Graham ’ s failure to deliver for his @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was able to rush through a Supreme Court justice but couldn ’ t pass a COVID-19 relief bill with the same urgency ?
It ’ s a worthwhile strategy in a state that will almost certainly support Donald Trump on Tuesday .
Most polls—which have given a slight edge to Graham—show a number of Trump-Harrison voters , a phenomenon explained by the “ leeriness ” around supporting a Democrat for nationwide office but a willingness to back a homegrown one for a lower seat , says Gibbs Knotts , a professor of political @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ Harrison is from the state , he has relationships here , he ’ s able to talk about growing up in Orangeburg and how he shares some of the values that are important to all South Carolinians , ” Knotts says .
“ Though he has a Democratic label , he ’ s not running commercials about being a Democrat.
” There are an awful lot of commercials : Harrison spent $ 34 million of his massive third-quarter haul on TV alone , while another $ 8 million went to digital and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ specifically targeted Black voters .
But he ’ s also been able to fund one of the most robust ground operation state Democrats have ever seen .
That ’ s one reason why , in addition to Harrison ’ s tight race , South Carolina Democrats also have a shot to flip the state senate .
When it comes to assessing his own odds , Harrison has been willing to venture into punditry .
The polls have taken on , in his words , a “ sort of schizophrenic ” quality .
“ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ or error , or [ are ] close to the margin , or under sample Black voters or whatever , ” he tells me .
“ It ’ s gon na be close , and it ’ s about turnout.
” Win or lose , Harrison believes his run has proven what he set out to do .
“ At least in the short term , [ it ] dramatically changed the trajectory of Democrats running in South Carolina , and I hope it means running in the South in general , ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ we should just give up on the region , I hope we have dispelled that .
”

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Nearly a year ago, Jaime Harrison told me he was going to go “everywhere” in South Carolina in his challenge to Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham. That was the advice Stacey Abrams, the former Georgia gubernatorial candidate, had given him, and it’s a strategy he himself had preached as an associate chair of Democratic National Committee tasked with overseeing the party’s strategy in the South. “You can win in the South, but you have to invest,” Harrison told me back then. “You have such large pockets of African American voters, and the big thing is you have to persuade them that an election is important enough for them to come out and vote.”
That was the base layer of Harrison’s grand theory of how Democrats could win in the region, one that admittedly sounded rosy against the backdrop of a deep-red state and a race against one of the most recognizable GOP senators in the country. Long before Harrison was the Democratic It Kid he’s become, I traveled down to South Carolina to see that shoe-leather hypothesis in action. Over two days and 400 miles, I watched Harrison hold events at four of the state’s historically Black colleges, most of which were attended by only a handful of students and faculty. On the walks to and from the car, he’d stop the custodians, the secretaries, and the students rushing to class to introduce himself and ask them about their day. “You can’t give up on anybody,” Harrison told me, another Abrams-ism she’d passed along.
“You can win in the South, but you have to invest,” Harrison told me.
“Everywhere,” of course, didn’t happen. Harrison had been a third of the way through a 46-county tour when the coronavirus pandemic forced him off the trail in March. But the bet Harrison made about the viability of a Democrat in South Carolina just might come to pass. In the weeks leading up to Election Day, race watchers began to rate Harrison’s challenge to Graham a toss-up, a massive shift from a year ago when Harrison’s challenge barely registered on their radars. Win or lose, Harrison hopes he’s proven what he told me he was setting out to do at this time last year: “Getting people to believe” that the Democratic spirit “is alive and well in the South.”
When I caught up with Harrison at the end of October, he sounded a lot like the rest of us. “I’m tired,” he told me. “November 3 can’t come soon enough.” The campaign had reached its final crescendo, but Harrison was still balancing school and childcare duties for his 6- and 1-year-old with his wife, who’s teaching 200 students between two classes at the University of South Carolina’s law school. The largely virtual existence had spared him the “whole-body experience” of campaigning in the South, but that was supposed to be his way in. “You’re eating, you’re fellowshipping, you’re connecting with people, telling stories, and to not be able to do that is difficult,” Harrison says. “And running against a guy who has 95 percent name ID, and your name ID is less than 20 is, you know, even more difficult.”
Money, of course, has helped make up the difference. The flow of it may have had less to do with Harrison than who he was up against. Though Graham once enjoyed a reputation for being a reasonable (albeit staunch) conservative, 2020 has been one long opportunity for the three-term senator to show his fealty to Trump, to whom he’s taken, in the words of one Republican operative to Rolling Stone, like a “pilot fish” who “hovers about a larger predator, like a shark, living off its detritus.” Graham has defended his president against an impeachment vote, shuttled a late-breaking conservative SCOTUS nominee through the confirmation process, and toed Trump’s line on COVID-19, refusing tests, masks, and relief bills at every turn.
Harrison, meanwhile, followed in his wake like an ActBlue ShamWow, absorbing liberals’ frustrations in dollars and cents. The Democrat has raised a whopping $109 million; $57 million of it flowed in from July through September alone, shattering the record for the highest quarterly fundraising total of any US Senate candidate. The mammoth amount allowed Harrison to get advertisements up on television as soon as it became unsafe for him to campaign in person. “It was important for folks to get to know who I was,” he says.
“Harrison is from the state, he has relationships here, he’s able to talk about growing up in Orangeburg and how he shares some of the values that are important to all South Carolinians.”
But for all the ways national attention has powered the race, Harrison tries not to let his own attention veer too far beyond state lines. He wouldn’t take the bait, for example, when I asked him whether he thought Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s (D-Calif.) embrace of Graham, both literally and figuratively‚ at the conclusion of Amy Coney Barrett’s Supreme Court confirmation had hurt his case. “That’s water under the bridge for me,” Harrison tells me. “I try to leave the Washington, DC, stuff—there are enough pundits to talk about that.” He pivoted back to Graham’s failure to deliver for his state: How was it that Graham was able to rush through a Supreme Court justice but couldn’t pass a COVID-19 relief bill with the same urgency?
It’s a worthwhile strategy in a state that will almost certainly support Donald Trump on Tuesday. Most polls—which have given a slight edge to Graham—show a number of Trump-Harrison voters, a phenomenon explained by the “leeriness” around supporting a Democrat for nationwide office but a willingness to back a homegrown one for a lower seat, says Gibbs Knotts, a professor of political science at the College of Charleston. “Harrison is from the state, he has relationships here, he’s able to talk about growing up in Orangeburg and how he shares some of the values that are important to all South Carolinians,” Knotts says. “Though he has a Democratic label, he’s not running commercials about being a Democrat.”
There are an awful lot of commercials: Harrison spent $34 million of his massive third-quarter haul on TV alone, while another $8 million went to digital and $2.2 million to radio ads that specifically targeted Black voters. But he’s also been able to fund one of the most robust ground operation state Democrats have ever seen. That’s one reason why, in addition to Harrison’s tight race, South Carolina Democrats also have a shot to flip the state senate.
When it comes to assessing his own odds, Harrison has been willing to venture into punditry. The polls have taken on, in his words, a “sort of schizophrenic” quality. “They’re all within the margin or error, or [are] close to the margin, or under sample Black voters or whatever,” he tells me. “It’s gonna be close, and it’s about turnout.”
Win or lose, Harrison believes his run has proven what he set out to do. “At least in the short term, [it] dramatically changed the trajectory of Democrats running in South Carolina, and I hope it means running in the South in general,” he says. “This perception that we should just give up on the region, I hope we have dispelled that.”


motherjones--2020-11-04--The Trump Campaign Is Openly Trying to Steal the Election

In an effort to stop officials from counting numerous votes cast in the crucial battleground state of Pennsylvania , the Trump campaign appears to have gone all-in on a brazen plan : try to sow chaos and get the courts to throw out as many remaining mail-in ballots as possible , which are likely to heavily favor Joe Biden .
With hundreds of thousands of votes yet to be counted on Wednesday , Pennsylvania , as widely predicted , was undergoing a “ blue shift ” : Whereas Election Day voters going to the polls initially skewed the tally Republican @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Donald Trump , once the overwhelmingly Democratic mail-in ballots started piling up the state began shifting toward Biden ’ s column .
As of Wednesday afternoon , Pennsylvania was in the midst of this process , with Trump ’ s lead shrinking and all eyes on whether mail-in votes for Biden would put him over the top .
Around 3 p.m .
ET , the Trump campaign announced that the president had won the state , a false claim with the tally far from complete .
Still , White House press secretary Kayleigh @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pushed the claim on Twitter .
At a press conference in Philadelphia on Wednesday afternoon , Trump surrogates including former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi , ex-Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski , and Trump ’ s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani , claimed that Trump had won Pennsylvania and that Democrats were trying to steal it through fraud .
Giuliani said , falsely , that the vote count in Philadelphia was “ totally illegitimate ” and declared with no evidence that the mail-in votes were fabricated by corrupt Democratic party bosses .
He then @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Democratic Party was using fraud in other close battleground states , and vowed lawsuits were coming .
The claims about Pennsylvania were a marked departure from Wednesday morning , when the Trump campaign told reporters that they were confident they would win Pennsylvania and called for all “ legal votes ” to be counted .
“ We have confidence in Pennsylvania , ” campaign manager Bill Stepien said then .
But an attempt to stop the counting by Wednesday afternoon seemed to signal declining confidence in the Trump camp about Pennsylvania .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ an attempt to halt counting suggested that the campaign felt the need to rely on subterfuge .
The Trump campaign ’ s actions come as the presidential election continues to move through a critical period of uncertainty .
Social media companies willingness to censor false and misleading claims , meanwhile , is being put to the test .
Thus far , Twitter has affixed a label to false declarations of victory , saying “ official sources may not have called the race when this was Tweeted ” ( a weak response that does @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a false claim intended to disrupt the fair administration of the election ) .
Twitter has also flagged attempts to push disinformation and conspiracy theories around the vote , including from Trump himself .
Other moves by the Trump campaign on Wednesday included asking the US Supreme Court to throw out ballots received after Election Day , even though Pennsylvania has said it will accept ballots postmarked Tuesday that arrive by Friday .
Meanwhile , Biden held a narrow lead on Wednesday afternoon in Michigan , another state seeing a “ blue shift @ @ @ @ @ @ @ where the Trump campaign has asked a judge to halt counting and set aside some already-counted mail-in ballots .
Pro-Trump protesters gathered in Detroit outside the TCF Center where votes were being counted to demand that the vote-counting stop .
It remains to be seen what impact these schemes from the Trump campaign and its supporters might have on the election outcome .

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In an effort to stop officials from counting numerous votes cast in the crucial battleground state of Pennsylvania, the Trump campaign appears to have gone all-in on a brazen plan: try to sow chaos and get the courts to throw out as many remaining mail-in ballots as possible, which are likely to heavily favor Joe Biden.
With hundreds of thousands of votes yet to be counted on Wednesday, Pennsylvania, as widely predicted, was undergoing a “blue shift”: Whereas Election Day voters going to the polls initially skewed the tally Republican, making the outcome look favorable to Donald Trump, once the overwhelmingly Democratic mail-in ballots started piling up the state began shifting toward Biden’s column. As of Wednesday afternoon, Pennsylvania was in the midst of this process, with Trump’s lead shrinking and all eyes on whether mail-in votes for Biden would put him over the top.
Around 3 p.m. ET, the Trump campaign announced that the president had won the state, a false claim with the tally far from complete. Still, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, Eric Trump, and others pushed the claim on Twitter. At a press conference in Philadelphia on Wednesday afternoon, Trump surrogates including former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, ex-Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, and Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, claimed that Trump had won Pennsylvania and that Democrats were trying to steal it through fraud. Giuliani said, falsely, that the vote count in Philadelphia was “totally illegitimate” and declared with no evidence that the mail-in votes were fabricated by corrupt Democratic party bosses. He then claimed, without any evidence, that the Democratic Party was using fraud in other close battleground states, and vowed lawsuits were coming.
The claims about Pennsylvania were a marked departure from Wednesday morning, when the Trump campaign told reporters that they were confident they would win Pennsylvania and called for all “legal votes” to be counted. “We have confidence in Pennsylvania,” campaign manager Bill Stepien said then. But an attempt to stop the counting by Wednesday afternoon seemed to signal declining confidence in the Trump camp about Pennsylvania. Instead, a declaration of victory and an attempt to halt counting suggested that the campaign felt the need to rely on subterfuge.
The Trump campaign’s actions come as the presidential election continues to move through a critical period of uncertainty. Social media companies willingness to censor false and misleading claims, meanwhile, is being put to the test. Thus far, Twitter has affixed a label to false declarations of victory, saying “official sources may not have called the race when this was Tweeted” (a weak response that does not debunk or limit the reach of a false claim intended to disrupt the fair administration of the election). Twitter has also flagged attempts to push disinformation and conspiracy theories around the vote, including from Trump himself.
Other moves by the Trump campaign on Wednesday included asking the US Supreme Court to throw out ballots received after Election Day, even though Pennsylvania has said it will accept ballots postmarked Tuesday that arrive by Friday.
Meanwhile, Biden held a narrow lead on Wednesday afternoon in Michigan, another state seeing a “blue shift” effect as mail-in ballots were counted—and where the Trump campaign has asked a judge to halt counting and set aside some already-counted mail-in ballots.
New: Trump campaign court docs in Michigan are in — they present ex. of one election inspector who says he was denied access, and ask the judge to stop absentee ballot counting until there's access. Complaint: https://t.co/k1s7nxKwVk
Emergency motion: https://t.co/LH3Dun0HSk pic.twitter.com/SGdjKsmvFQ — Zoe Tillman (@ZoeTillman) November 4, 2020
Pro-Trump protesters gathered in Detroit outside the TCF Center where votes were being counted to demand that the vote-counting stop.
For a second an argument about abortion broke out, but then the Trump supporters refocused and began the stop-the-count chant again: pic.twitter.com/IltgSVvcW8 — AJ Vicens (@AJVicens) November 4, 2020
It remains to be seen what impact these schemes from the Trump campaign and its supporters might have on the election outcome.


motherjones--2020-11-04--A Federal Judge Wants Louis DeJoy to Testify Under Oath About Mail Delays

A federal judge excoriated lawyers for the United States Postal Service on Wednesday for failing to comply with a court order on Election Day requiring postal inspectors to conduct sweeps of processing plans to make sure mail ballots were sent on time .
“ In no uncertain terms , I ’ m not pleased about this 11th-hour development last night , ” Judge Emmet Sullivan told Justice Department lawyers representing USPS .
“ You can tell your clients that—and someone might have a price to pay.
” Sullivan said he wanted Postmaster General Louis DeJoy to sit for a deposition @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , saying that the failure to follow the court order starts “ at the top of the food chain.
” Samuel Spital of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund , which is challenging USPS policies that have lead to major mail delays , said he might seek a contempt-of-court order against DeJoy next week .
Last month , Sullivan ordered USPS to reverse policies implemented under DeJoy that led to major delays over the summer , such as prohibiting postal workers from making extra trips to deliver the mail .
The Postal Service was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and mail delays have gotten worse closer to the election , leading to fears that ballots will be rejected if they do not arrive on time .
At least 30 states require mail ballots to be received by Election Day .
Yesterday , there were media reports that 300,000 ballots were not delivered on time , but that number is misleading because USPS is sending ballots without scanning them to expedite delivery , according to the agency .
The Postal Service said it had no time to complete the sweep Sullivan ordered @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and found only 13 missing ballots , which were subsequently delivered on time .
Still , as of Election Day , there were nearly 27 million mail ballots that had been sent to voters but not mailed back .
We don ’ t know if those voters dropped their ballots off , voted in person , or didn ’ t vote at all , but it ’ s still possible that thousands of votes could be rejected for arriving too late .

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A federal judge excoriated lawyers for the United States Postal Service on Wednesday for failing to comply with a court order on Election Day requiring postal inspectors to conduct sweeps of processing plans to make sure mail ballots were sent on time. “In no uncertain terms, I’m not pleased about this 11th-hour development last night,” Judge Emmet Sullivan told Justice Department lawyers representing USPS. “You can tell your clients that—and someone might have a price to pay.”
Sullivan said he wanted Postmaster General Louis DeJoy to sit for a deposition or appear before his courtroom under oath, saying that the failure to follow the court order starts “at the top of the food chain.” Samuel Spital of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, which is challenging USPS policies that have lead to major mail delays, said he might seek a contempt-of-court order against DeJoy next week.
Last month, Sullivan ordered USPS to reverse policies implemented under DeJoy that led to major delays over the summer, such as prohibiting postal workers from making extra trips to deliver the mail. The Postal Service was slow to comply with the court order, and mail delays have gotten worse closer to the election, leading to fears that ballots will be rejected if they do not arrive on time. At least 30 states require mail ballots to be received by Election Day.
Yesterday, there were media reports that 300,000 ballots were not delivered on time, but that number is misleading because USPS is sending ballots without scanning them to expedite delivery, according to the agency. The Postal Service said it had no time to complete the sweep Sullivan ordered yesterday, but did its own investigation and found only 13 missing ballots, which were subsequently delivered on time.
Still, as of Election Day, there were nearly 27 million mail ballots that had been sent to voters but not mailed back. We don’t know if those voters dropped their ballots off, voted in person, or didn’t vote at all, but it’s still possible that thousands of votes could be rejected for arriving too late.