It’s Friday, Aug. 9, 2019. Let’s start here.
1. Immigration raids
Sweeping workplace raids targeting roughly 680 undocumented immigrants in Mississippi this week left families heartbroken and some children without a parent to care for them.
As videos surfaced of children crying about the separations, immigration advocates condemned the raids and accused the Trump administration of tearing families apart, according to ABC News’ Serena Marshall on “Start Here” today, “Why do the raids in the first place if you’re not going to make sure that there’s a proper protocol in place to handle these children, many of whom are American citizens?”
“I don’t know where I’m going to eat,” a weeping 11-year-old girl pleads after her father was arrested in yesterday’s massive roundup of undocumented immigrants in Mississippi. In some cases, the arrests left children without their parents. https://t.co/k5UdqD2XWg pic.twitter.com/NK18Sy45OU
Several hundred of the arrested individuals were released from custody, Immigration and Customs Enforcement Southern Region Communications Director Bryan Cox said Thursday. He also defended the agency’s handling of the raids, saying those detained were advised to inform ICE officials if they needed to make child care arrangements.
Acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan responded to the raids in an exclusive interview with ABC News, noting the “devastating” impact on families: “It is really a challenging situation. We’ve got very vulnerable laws that invite families and kids to make this dangerous journey right now. The kids are put at risk from the beginning of the cycle through their arrival in the U.S.”
2. Iowa and ‘electability’
Democratic presidential candidates are descending on Des Moines for the Iowa State Fair with just six months until the first-in-the-nation caucuses.
While many voters at the fair believe it’s too early at this stage to pick a favorite, a lot of Iowans say they’re supporting the front-runner, former Vice President Joe Biden, based on “electability,” according to ABC News’ Adam Kelsey.
“Everything the president says and has done encourages white supremacists,” Joe Biden tells @ABC News.
“Democratic voters right now are still most concerned … with the candidate who’s going to be able to defeat President Trump,” he says. “They view Joe Biden as the safest bet,” but he also adds that Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., has emerged as a contender on Iowans’ minds.
3. Food security future
A new report from the United Nations’ climate change panel warns of a food shortage as land becomes unfit for agriculture.
Twenty-five percent of the world’s non-ice land has been affected by “human-induced degradation,” according to the report from the International Panel on Climate Change, which says “climate change exacerbates land degradation, particularly in low-lying coastal areas, river deltas, drylands and in permafrost areas.”
The climate change panel is also raising concerns about the world’s progress in addressing global warming. ABC News’ Stephanie Ebbs says, “The main takeaway of this U.N. report is even if we completely electrify our energy systems, even if we completely eliminate fossil fuels, that’s not going to be enough on its own to reach those goals that they set out in the Paris climate agreement.”
“Start Here,” ABC News’ flagship podcast, offers a straightforward look at the day’s top stories in 20 minutes. Listen for free every weekday on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn or the ABC News app. Follow @StartHereABC on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram for exclusive content and show updates.
Elsewhere:
‘It has been an honor’: Deputy National Director of Intelligence Sue Gordon is joining Dan Coats in exiting the agency President Donald Trump announced Thursday. Joseph Maguire, the current director of the national counterterrorism center, has been named acting director.
‘We take safety really, really seriously’: A fight attendant was arrested after she spent nearly the entire flight passed out drunk, passengers said. The woman blew more than five times the legal limit.
‘A great amount of panic’: The nation continues to be on edge in the wake of dual mass shootings last weekend in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio. Customers at a Walmart in Missouri were sent running on Thursday when a man walked into the store with an assault rifle and military gear. It’s still unclear why the man did it, and he has not been charged.
‘Potentially or intentionally misleading representations’: Remember the group that raised over $300 million on GoFundMe to contribute toward building a wall along the southern border? They couldn’t give the money to the government, but they’ve tried to build the wall on their own — and now, they’re being investigated by Florida’s attorney general over possible criminality.
From our friends at FiveThirtyEight:
Most Latinos Now Say It’s Gotten Worse For Them In The U.S.: We will likely never know how much the El Paso shooter was influenced by rhetoric like Trump’s — but we do know that since Trump took office, surveys and studies have shown that Latinos, particularly Latino immigrants, have become more insecure.
Doff your cap:
We finally made it to Friday, and we all need this sweet video of this toddler singing an Elvis song.
Steven Converse and Jiyeon Jun’s son, Daniel, is still learning to speak, and when he started singing Elvis Presley this summer, they were surprised by his natural talent.
The then-2-year-old had memorized most of the words and melody of Elvis’ hit “Can’t Help Falling in Love.”
“He’s always kind of shy about singing and stuff, but this is one song he really picked up on,” Converse, a staff sergeant in the U.S. Air Force and a musician, told “GMA.”
