Acting ICE chief announces retirement following clashes with Trump officials
White House officials had accused Albence of favoring humanitarian concerns about the treatment of immigrants over the chance to take more aggressive action.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement Acting Director Matthew Albence speaks at a press conference.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement Acting Director Matthew Albence. | Scott Heins/Getty Images

By MAX COHEN

07/31/2020 09:55 AM EDT

The acting chief of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Matthew Albence, is leaving the government.

A career law enforcement officer who filled a number of positions within the Department of Homeland Security agency, Albence recently sparred with White House officials over how to handle ICE’s mission amid the coronavirus pandemic.

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/07/31/acting-ice-chief-retirement-white-house-389442

Trump officials accused Albence of favoring humanitarian concerns about the treatment of immigrants over the chance to take more aggressive action, POLITICO reported in March. Albence’s decision to halt most ICE enforcement efforts put him on thin ice with White House officials, a conflict that was part of a broader dispute between Albence and administration leaders.

Trump, Please Quit Before You’re Fired
By walking away, he can save the lives of supporters who have listened to his lethal quackery.

It was clear when President Trump woke up on Thursday morning, with no pollster left to lie to him, and not enough Fox News sycophancy to fill his cereal bowl, that he would have to play one of the last tricks in the dictator’s handbook.

He floated the idea of breaching the Constitution by illegally delaying the national election. It follows his logic on a pandemic that has taken more than 150,000 American lives. If there were less testing for the coronavirus, cases would go down. Ergo, if there were no election on Nov. 3, he couldn’t be booted from office in a wipeout. The stable genius strikes again!

Here’s a better suggestion: As a mortal threat to those looking for life-and-death guidance from the White House, he should do humanity a favor and surrender now. He can quit while he’s only behind by 10 points or so. More important, by walking away today, he can save many lives of supporters who have listened to the lethal quackery from the presidential podium.

He gave up in the war on Covid-19 from Day 1, when he declared that there was nothing to worry about, it would all soon disappear like magic. And his throw-in-the-towel tactics continue to this day, as he promotes the harmful and bizarre suggestions of a woman who also believes in demon sperm transmitted through dreams.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/31/opinion/trump-resign.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage

Census Cuts Itself Short, Many Fear 'Massive Undercount'
Census Bureau reportedly ending door-knocking efforts earlier than expected amid WH pressure

About 40% of US homes haven't responded to census questionnaires for this year's mandated count, so the Census Bureau has started sending out door knockers. But those efforts may be cut short, amid an apparent push by the bureau to wrap things up much earlier than expected—a move that congressional Democrats fear is due to pressure from the White House. The New York Times reported Tuesday that the Trump administration last week requested nearly $450 million from the Senate Appropriations Committee in the next COVID-19 package to help complete the 2020 census in a "timely" manner, without defining "timely." Now, three Census Bureau employees tell NPR that canvassing involving up to half a million door knockers is set to end Sept. 30—a full month before the Oct. 31 deadline initially indicated to make up lost ground due to the coronavirus.

https://www.newser.com/story/294345/census-workers-fear-massive-undercount-over-date-change.html?utm_source=part&utm_medium=uol&utm_campaign=rss_world_img_b

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8580249/Most-residents-Northeast-West-wear-masks-Plains-South.html

A map shows the face mask-wearing rates across all 3,141 counties in the US amid the coronavirus pandemic
Counties in the Northeast, now seeing record-lows, and the West, experiencing record-highs, were high with rates between 70% and 100%
Hotspot states such as Texas and Florida, which were more resistant to mask mades, also had high compliance
Rates were much lower, around 30% in counties in the Plains, such as South Dakota and Iowa, which is starting to see a rise in cases
Cities were much more likely to have high rates, such as Atlanta, but suburbs had lower rates

https://twitter.com/AveryPereira/status/1288941587817472006

Tonight, as a lifelong Republican, I formally announce my support for
@JoeBiden
for president. We cannot afford four more years of indecency, incompetence, and immorality from this administration. Let us work together as patriots to get out the vote and put #CountryOverParty

https://twitter.com/mydogmon/status/1288734133741592576

https://twitter.com/itsJeffTiedrich/status/1288961845395677190

I am here to bear reluctant witness that Mr. Trump didn’t hijack the Republican Party. He is the logical conclusion of what the party became over the past 50 or so years, a natural product of the seeds of race-baiting, self-deception and anger that now dominate it. Hold Donald Trump up to a mirror and that bulging, scowling orange face is today’s Republican Party.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/29/opinion/trump-republican-party-racism.html?action=click&algo=identity&block=more_in_recirc&fellback=false&imp_id=168269602&impression_id=b4366623-d1f8-11ea-8ce3-e3d3575eb7b4&index=4&pgtype=Article®ion=footer&req_id=450085589&surface=more-in-opinion