Slight correction, the 800k figure was a figure for new cases in a year (including ones that are no longer pending). Total pending cases is still pretty close at around 1.1-1.5 million depending at which exact time period you're looking. That's total pending cases
Here's it listed in a congressional report
There aren't that many asylum claims in total. In 2024, there were 800,000 pending asylum claims
Media coverage about immigration is wildly skewed from reality
They commit fewer crimes than US citizens on average. Even the Right-wing CATO institute found undocumented immigrants were 37% less likely to be convicted of a crime
They pay more in taxes on average than they recieve from any government services
https://www.cato.org/blog/fiscal-impact-immigration-united-states (again a right wing source)
Notably they actually did try to barge in. From the article
Minutes earlier, a handful of lawmakers, including Crockett, Pressley, Frost and Jamie Raskin, had attempted to get inside the treasury department before being rebuffed.
They also tried to get into USAID yesterday
Retracted papers are usually still visible, just with a warning that they are retracted
You'll have to be careful it wasn't actually retracted for legitimate reasons
Notably they have no majorities in either the house or senate. They can slow things down - and they have pledged to use some of the tools to do so until Musk stops his insanity - but they cannot do a ton directly more without Republican support
Yep, and they're already making demands, but its in March, and note dem power is limited there. Reconciliation allows budgets to pass without a filibuster, so dems only have power if Republicans infight. There's decent odds of Republicans infighting like the other prior times, so Dems still are planning to use their votes to get some protections against Trump's actions
In a letter to House Democrats, Jeffries hammered the administration for issuing an order — since rescinded — to freeze federal aid that Congress had previously allocated. Jeffries suggested Democrats will oppose any federal spending bill that doesn’t explicitly prevent Trump from freezing, slashing or otherwise altering those programs, including Medicaid, which saw its services disrupted amid the chaos over the freeze.
The Democratic leader said he’s already delivered the message to House GOP leaders that, absent those assurances, Republicans will be on their own to prevent a shutdown.
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/5123216-jeffries-government-shutdown-trump-orders/
Fighting in courts and grinding congress to slow way, way down is what they have the power to do federally. They don't have any majorities in either the house or senate
They can try and go in to stop people physically - like what they also just tried doing by entering the building
What specific action from them do you have in mind that they have the power to do?
Not actually performative, it's one of the few things they really have power to do without republicans support. They can drag specific types of nominations out to end to taking something like almost a year to get through all of them. And take up limited senate floor time for other bills, legislation, etc in the meantime
There are hundreds of nominations they need to get through
My understanding, is that historically, the minimum debate times thresholds for nominations have been waved away via unanimous consent - especially for minor positions. If one senator objects, then you have to go the whole time
Another thing they can do is force quorum calls to waste time counting people present. Usually quorum is assumed
That's not necessarily true. Often in situations like this you'll start with one simple demand and then if they cave, move on to the next
Think it's more so a matter of finally realizing the threat of the moment here
This is one post in a live thread so maybe something got weird there
The gist of it is that after speaking to around 100 protestors, various dem senators and house reps tried to get into the building. They got inside technically but ended up being blocked at the main entrance
Unsure if they are still there
They spoke about how insane Musk & Trump's plans are and how they plan to fight in courts. I believe they also spoke about plans slow down senate nominations with the procedural tools they can (or that might have been said outside of the protests)
Headline is poor, he's using procedural tools to slow things way down. From the article
“I will oppose unanimous consent. I will vote no. I will do maximal delays until this is resolved
Unrelated to the article itself, why is there a little green circle around the cursor when you hover over the title. Only on the title though?