Barr and Sessions "must testify" on Trump admin's secret probe of Democrats

[View in browser]( [Mother Jones Daily Newsletter]( June 11, 2021 Hi all, Fernanda Echavarri here. I cover immigration and immigrant communities for all of Mother Jones’ platforms. For last week’s Big Feature, I published a story called "[One Family’s Escape From Trump’s Border Hell: A 130-Week Diary](." It’s the story of one of the most impactful immigration policies of the Trump era told through the journey of one family from El Salvador. Back in February 2019, I met the Perla family while reporting at the border in Tijuana. They had been waiting for their turn to ask for asylum at the port of entry for almost two months by that point, and little did they know they would end up forced to wait at the border for more than two years under a policy known as "Remain in Mexico." That morning in 2019, 4-year-old Carlos walked up to me to start a conversation about how cold it got in Tijuana and how he needed his fuzzy beanie hat and blanket. I spoke with his father, Juan Carlos Perla, about the family’s situation and we exchanged numbers. I kept in touch with Juan Carlos via WhatsApp voice memos and phone calls through incredibly tough situations over the next two years. Some calls were devastating because the family was in dire need of help living in the streets of Tijuana. Others were full of optimism from Juan Carlos, who felt that if they kept following the rules and doing what the US and Mexico governments asked of them, one day they’d get their happy ending. Since taking office, the Biden administration has been overwhelmed by a seemingly unceasing need at the border and preoccupied with reversing other immigration cruelties left by President Trump, so “Remain in Mexico” is no longer the most immediate crisis. But it will nevertheless go down as one of the most significant policies of the Trump era, one that was monumental in shifting how the US handles asylum. And while Biden has officially ended the policy, its horrors and those of the administration’s immigration regime writ large will not be neatly wrapped up anytime soon. In February, the Biden administration said it’d start to slowly bring in asylum seekers with active cases like the Perlas. Today, the Perla family is starting to make a life in a small town in Oregon, thanks to the help of a US-based nonprofit that paid for an attorney and connected the family with a sponsor. A couple months into their new life in the Pacific Northwest, Juan Carlos, Aracely, and their three kids, ages 9, 6, and 3, are living "our happy ending." Looking at the photos Juan Carlos has shared with me and listening to the voice memos the kids have sent me, it’s impossible not to see how happy and safe they all feel now that they’re no longer stuck in a Mexican border city. Only problem is, this isn’t an ending at all. It’s a huge but ultimately temporary reprieve because their asylum case still has to continue in immigration court. I hope you’ll [read the story]( of how this family made it through a policy the Trump administration designed to break asylum seekers down to the point they don’t continue their legal right to claim asylum in the United States. —Fernanda Echavarri P.S. I also wanted to plug [this piece]( from our CEO, Monika Bauerlein, in which she writes about "slow news" and how it feels kind of good after the chaos of the last few years, no longer being glued to our screens. She also writes about Mother Jones’ $350,000 [fundraising]( goal right now and talks about our history and where we’re going. It makes me proud to work here, where we do things a bit differently. Advertisement [FairTrade]( [Top Story] [Top Story]( [Barr and Sessions “Must Testify” on the Trump Administration’s Secret Probe of Democrats]( Democratic leaders say they'll subpoena ex-Trump officials if they refuse. BY INAE OH SPONSORED POST [Sponsored Content]( [How Climate Change Challenges Farmers Producing the Food You Eat]( Fairtrade collaborates with farmers to adapt to escalating conditions THIS CONTENT WAS PAID FOR AND SPONSORED BY [FAIRTRADE AMERICA](. [Trending] [Putin shares blame for 400,000 American deaths. Should Biden shake his hand?]( BY DAVID CORN [Trump went on an execution spree. Biden can make sure that doesn't happen again.]( BY NATHALIE BAPTISTE [It's not just income taxes. Billionaires don't pay inheritance taxes either.]( BY MICHAEL MECHANIC [Marco Rubio will defer your student loans, but only if you survive a terrorist attack]( BY ABIGAIL WEINBERG Advertisement [FairTrade]( [Weekend Reads] [Special Feature]( [One Family’s Escape From Trump’s Border Hell: A 130-Week Diary]( Can the Perla family get their happy ending? BY FERNANDA ECHAVARRI [Fiercely Independent] Support from readers allows Mother Jones to do journalism that doesn't just follow the pack. [Donate]( [Recharge] SOME GOOD NEWS, FOR ONCE [From Our Archives, the Origins of Tech People Loving the Idea of Going to Space]( Each Friday, we bring you an article from our archives to propel you into the weekend. Earlier this week, Jeff Bezos, the soon-to-be-ex-CEO of Amazon and the richest man in the world, said he would be blasting himself into space. Okay! Sure. Also, why? But mainly: Go for it. The new, brawny Bezos will be on board the inaugural flight of his space company: [Blue Origin](. He will spend [three minutes in outer space without a pilot](. Bezos is not alone in being into space. Other ultrawealthy tech folk like it too. Elon Musk is trying to make [rockets](. Richard Branson is into private space rockets. And the new king of SPACS, Chamath Palihapitiya, convinced people to buy into Branson’s Virgin Galactic space tourism business with a bravado [pitch]( about the stars. (Branson is reportedly [fighting]( Bezos to get to space faster.) This might lead you to a simple question: What’s up with these dudes and space? I think [Fred Turner](, a professor at Stanford and the author of From Counterculture to Cyberculture: Stewart Brand, the Whole Earth Network, and the Rise of Digital Utopianism, carves a helpful path to perhaps understand the space-obsessed tech rich. In his essay “[Machine Politics](” for Harper’s (and, yeah, in that mouthful of a book title, too), Turner shows the unique blend of Bay Area aesthetics and Silicon Valley money. The acid and hippies found capitalism and started Apple, in a way. For techies, this gives a conscious capitalism sheen—an against-the-grain edge—to the big money. That’s been hard to grasp in recent years as it’s become more obvious that tech is just money stacking itself up in a new way. Still, the ethos is important. If you’re a tech lord, and you buy the narrative—disruptor!—you can see how space travel and using your massive wealth do it would be a fixation. Because you know who loved space too? Timothy Leary. In a fascinating [piece]( from one of our 1976 issues, writer Don Goldsmith follows Leary as the acid-making man talks about blasting himself up into the stars for space colonization. Here’s how Leary is introduced: The man’s name is Timothy Leary. Berkeley made him a Ph.D., Harvard a professor, LSD an ex-professor, the media a devil, the government a convict, prison a space-oriented philosopher. This piece is sort of Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test as Apollo 11 and then devolves into listing why people want to go to space. It’s cool. It also offers a dive into the hippie culture that would come to affect the tech folk directly. Stewart Brand, [creator of the Whole Earth Catalog](—a text that would underpin the fantasy of scientific utopianism that fueled Silicon Valley’s mythos—is mentioned as one of the people pushing for space colonization along with Leary. Go read the whole piece about Goldsmith attending a meeting in Berkeley for the Network, Leary’s space mission—named “Starseed Seminar #1: S.M.I.2L.E. (S.M.I.2L.E. = Space Migration+ Intelligence Increase+Life Extension)”—[here](. —Jacob Rosenberg Did you enjoy this newsletter? Help us out by [forwarding]( it to a friend or sharing it on [Facebook]( and [Twitter](. [Mother Jones]( [Donate]( [Subscribe]( This message was sent to {EMAIL}. To change the messages you receive from us, you can [edit your email preferences]( or [unsubscribe from all mailings.]( For advertising opportunities see our online [media kit.]( Were you forwarded this email? [Sign up for Mother Jones' newsletters today.]( [www.MotherJones.com]( PO Box 8539, Big Sandy, TX 75755