MLK Files Declassified; Trump's First Law: 58 Dems Join GOP to Send Anti Due Process Bill to Trump's Desk; Tele-Health Bill Advances
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Laken Riley Act: 58 Democrats Vote with Republicans on MAGA Immigration Bill
263-156. Reps. Vindman and Subramanyam joined Republicans in support of Trump’s effort to make deportations easier by supporting the Laken Riley Act. The legislation will be the first bill Trump will sign in to law.
On Jan. 20, Trump’s first day in office, the U.S. Senate passed the Laken Riley Act by a 64-35 vote. Twelve Democrats, including Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) voted alongside Republicans. Warner is up for re-election in 2026 and there is speculation that Gov. Youngkin may be his Republican opponent.
Democrats remain on defense as Republicans continue to control the information ecosystem with a blend of misinformation, demagoguery, lying and message discipline that works perfectly in the current information age.
On Jan. 22, the bill returned from to the U.S. House for final passage and two Democrats in the Virginia delegation, Reps. Vindman and Subramanyam, voted alongside MAGA Republicans who have made immigration a central issue.
Other Democrats in the delegation, including Reps. Don Beyer, Gerry Connolly and Bobby Scott voted against the bill.
“It is well known that migrants are less likely to commit crimes than American citizens. Furthermore, migrants who are convicted of crimes are already inadmissible and deportable under current law,” Rep. Bobby Scott pointed out in a statement.
“Yet this bill would subject migrants, including those with lawful status, to mandatory immigration detention if they are merely arrested for certain criminal offenses, even if they are never ultimately charged or found guilty – denying them the fundamental right to due process guaranteed under the U.S. Constitution,” he added.
“While we must do more to reform our immigration system and keep our communities safe, this bill would do neither,” Scott concluded.
Rep. Jennifer McClellan also voted no.
Speaking on the House floor on the Laken Riley Act, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said, "Look at what members of Congress are invested in private prison companies, and look at the votes on this bill," and "If someone undocumented is so much as accused of a crime...they will be rounded up and put into a private detention camp & sent out for deportation."
Restorative Justice for schools: Virginia Lawmakers Aim to Reform Discipline
By Nathaniel Cline for Virginia Mercury | Lawmakers are pushing for a groundbreaking pilot program at eight Virginia schools to transform school discipline by replacing punishment-first approaches with restorative practices aimed at racial disparities and supporting students.
Black students and students with disabilities are disproportionately removed from classrooms for behavioral issues, according to a study by the Legal Aid Justice Center. The study found that Black students made up 21% of Virginia’s student population but faced a much higher share of disciplinary actions. Similarly, students with disabilities, who represent 13% of the population, are disciplined at disproportionate rates.
The proposed Restorative Schools in Virginia Pilot Program, sponsored by Del. Delores McQuinn, D-Richmond (House Bill 2196) and Sen. Stella Pekarsky, D-Fairfax (Senate Bill 1262), would provide nearly $2 million in grants to develop restorative practices in one school district from each of the state’s eight regions. These practices focus on fostering positive relationships, encouraging conflict resolution, and creating supportive environments to reduce racial disparities and lower discipline rates. READ ENTIRE
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Tele-Health Mental Health Bill Advances
By Melissa Chaparro - The Richmond Capital News Service
A bill that would provide school counselors with the means to counsel students through telehealth mental health services advanced in the House of Delegates Tuesday.
The K-12 subcommittee voted 8-0 for HB2543 to be reported back to the floor. The bill comes after a recommendation from the Joint Subcommittee to Study Pandemic Response and Preparedness in the Commonwealth and will apply to public school students enrolled in their local school division.
According to the bill, the Department of Behavioral Health, Developmental Services and the Department of Medical Assistance Services, “shall develop, adopt and distribute to each school board a model memorandum of understanding between a school board and a public or private community mental health services provider or a nationally recognized school-based telehealth provider.”
Del. Amy Laufer, D-Charlottesville, is the chief patron of HB 2543.
“We know that the pandemic had a profound impact on [the] mental health of our students,” Laufer told the subcommittee. ”Expanding the availability of our own school counselors to provide these services could benefit our children.”
According to Mental Health America, Virginia was ranked 12th out of the 50 states, “in the comprehensive range of well-being metrics.”
Organizations such as Virginia Counselors Association, Voices for Virginia’s Children and New Virginia Majority testified in support of the bill. Voices for Virginia’s Children, an independent organization dedicated to multi-issue child policy and advocacy, advocated for the use of telehealth services in its 2025 policy agenda.
“Through establishing national partnerships, leveraging state infrastructural funding, and improving in-school Medicaid programming, Virginia can increase student access to mental health services,” the agenda states.
The organization also specifically called for schools to have appropriate access to technology, expertise and the ability to bill for Medicaid.
HB 2543 will be referred back to the Committee on Education to report a vote by the full committee.
“We know providing telehealth services during the pandemic can be a lifeline to our students,” Laufer said. “We certainly saw that … mental health services are crucial during times of crisis.”
Trump Signs Executive Order to Declassify Files Related to Martin Luther King, Jr., JFK, RFK
Today (Jan. 23, 2025), President Trump on signed an executive order codifying the declassification of secret files related to the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, his brother Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr.
President Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, his brother Robert F. Kennedy and Dr. King were killed in 1968.
The files have long been secret. There had been previous requests made to make the secret files pubic but previous presidents have declined to make the files public. The order includes a request made to the Department of Justice and instructs the Office of the Director of National Intelligence release the secret information.
“More than 50 years after the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, and the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the Federal Government has not released to the public all of its records related to those events. Their families and the American people deserve transparency and truth. It is in the national interest to finally release all records related to these assassinations without delay,” the Executive order read in part.
“Everything will be revealed,” President Trump said as he sat at the Resolute Desk during this first week of his second term in office. Trump signed the order and then held it up for the camera.
The order says in part that, “the release of these records is long overdue.”
“I have now determined that the continued redaction and withholding of information from records pertaining to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy is not consistent with the public interest and the release of these records is long overdue. And although no Act of Congress directs the release of information pertaining to the assassinations of Senator Robert F. Kennedy and the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., I have determined that the release of all records in the Federal Government’s possession pertaining to each of those assassinations is also in the public interest,” part of the executive order read.
“The truth is a lot sadder than the myth — a tragedy that didn’t need to happen. Not part of an inevitable grand scheme. Declassification is using JFK as a political prop, when he’s not here to punch back. There’s nothing heroic about it,” wrote Jack Schlossberg on social media shortly after President Trump signed the executive orders.
Other members of the Kennedy family are certain to comment on the president’s order. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., 71, has been nominated by President Trump to serve as his Secretary of Health and Human Services. His nomination hearing is later this month.
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