The New York Times Editorial Board this weekend urged the Obama administration to fix immigration policies that have left over 11 million unauthorized immigrants without resources or next steps. They urged the administration “to bring immigration policy in line with lawfulness and common sense” by allowing the “Department of Homeland Security to get control of its enforcement machinery to make sure that its actions in the field match the priorities set in Washington, focusing resources on public-safety and national-security threats, not the workers and families trapped in the failed system.” The Editorial Board cites two examples of misguided Homeland Security issues: racial profiling of Latinos in immigration and customs policies brought to light by the New Orleans Center for Racial Justice, and North Carolina sheriff Terry Johnson of Alamance County who on trial this month, accused by the Justice Department of rampant racial-profiling abuses against Latinos.
The Chicago Sun-Times profiled the ongoing tension between Mayor Rahm Emanuel and the Chicago Teachers Union. The article reports that the CTU is “out for [Emanuel’s] head after he closed 50 schools, mostly in poor and minority communities.” However, in the mayor’s reelection efforts, union groups have donated more than $1 million to Emanuel since last year. In the article, Brandon Johnson, the deputy political director for the Chicago Teachers Union, said if CTU President Karen Lewis does launch a mayoral bid, she will have no problem grabbing union backing. “We’re confident there will be plenty of labor support for her,” Johnson said. “She’s prepared to defend retirement security and bring real revenue to the city.”
The New York Times reports that “more jobs are open, but they’re filling slowly.” Though job report numbers indicate that employers are firing fewer workers than they did when times were good, they are also hiring fewer people to fill open positions. These figures have come into the forefront of labor economists’ dialogue ever since Janet Yellen, the chairwoman of the Federal Reserve, began to cite monthly Jolts (Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey) reports in her in her assessment of the economy.
In international news, Canada was forced to release a second version of the country’s July jobs report after detecting a processing error in original data released on August 8. The new numbers show that 41,700 jobs were added in July, “well above the original estimate issued a week ago of a meager 200 jobs, and more than double market expectations for a 20,000 advance, according to economists at Royal Bank of Canada.”
Following Thursday’s popular interactive graphics showing how Americans have moved state-to-state since 1900, the New York Times mapped current migration throughout the United States. Each shape within a state represents where the people living in a state were born, with larger shapes mean a group makes up a larger share of the population.
Daily News & Commentary
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February 3
In today’s news and commentary, Bloomberg reports on a drop in unionization, Starbucks challenges an NLRB ruling, and a federal judge blocks DHS termination of protections for Haitian migrants. Volatile economic conditions and a shifting political climate drove new union membership sharply lower in 2025, according to a Bloomberg Law report analyzing trends in labor […]
February 2
Amazon announces layoffs; Trump picks BLS commissioner; DOL authorizes supplemental H-2B visas.
February 1
The moratorium blocking the Trump Administration from implementing Reductions in Force (RIFs) against federal workers expires, and workers throughout the country protest to defund ICE.
January 30
Multiple unions endorse a national general strike, and tech companies spend millions on ad campaigns for data centers.
January 29
Texas pauses H-1B hiring; NLRB General Counsel announces new procedures and priorities; Fourth Circuit rejects a teacher's challenge to pronoun policies.
January 28
Over 15,000 New York City nurses continue to strike with support from Mayor Mamdani; a judge grants a preliminary injunction that prevents DHS from ending family reunification parole programs for thousands of family members of U.S. citizens and green-card holders; and decisions in SDNY address whether employees may receive accommodations for telework due to potential exposure to COVID-19 when essential functions cannot be completed at home.