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WASHINGTON (AP) —
Immigration activists are trying to use Hillary Rodham Clinton's stance on immigration to pressure President Barack Obama to do more for immigrants.
Clinton said last week that if elected president, she would expand on the executive actions Obama took last fall to grant legal work permits to millions of immigrants in this country illegally.
The White House insists that Obama went as far as he legally could. But Clinton said she would do more than her fellow Democrat, including extending deportation protections to the parents of so-called "Dreamers" — immigrants brought illegally to this country as youths.
Activists with the #Not1More Campaign said Monday they are sending a letter to the White House urging Obama to follow Clinton's lead.
"President Obama could make the changes to the immigration enforcement system outlined by Clinton, now," said the letter provided to The Associated Press. "If Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party believe in these changes as more than talking points, they should move for President Obama to enact them immediately with the urging and vocal support of his party."
Immigration is emerging as an important issue in the presidential campaign, with Clinton using it to differentiate herself from her Republican opponents, who oppose the unilateral steps Obama took.
But Clinton's comments also opened a split with the current president of her own party, one that immigration activists hope to use to their advantage.
White House press secretary Josh Earnest, when asked about Clinton's comments, said that Obama had already gone as far as he could.
"The president was determined to use as much of his authority as he could to try to bring some much needed accountability to our broken immigration system. And that was reflected in the announcement that he made," Earnest said.
The activists' letter also pointed to comments Clinton made questioning conditions in immigrant detention centers, and urged Obama to end detentions of vulnerable populations including pregnant women and transgender people.
Obama's executive actions have been challenged in court and are currently on hold pending a ruling by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
On Monday, a group of House members and senators announced they were filing an amicus brief to support a continued injunction against the executive actions. Signers included GOP Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Marco Rubio of Florida, both presidential candidates. A third senator running for president, Rand Paul of Kentucky, did not sign.
HATTIESBURG, Miss. (AP) —
Marvin Banks' drug use and drinking had worsened in recent years and he was hearing voices in his head.
His mother said she had hoped he would get help. He didn't, and now he is charged with capital murder in the deaths of two police officers in Mississippi. His girlfriend and brother are charged as accessories and a friend faces an obstruction charge.
Banks' mother, Mary Smith, said when she saw the booking photos of her 26-year-old son, she knew something was off.
"He was sick and out of his head and I tried to get him some help," she said on the steps of the Forrest County Courthouse, where she had gone to find out more information about her sons' arrest.
Marvin Banks had been smoking synthetic marijuana, known as spice, every day.
"He was on that spice. He was on every drug there was. Spice, powder, marijuana, drinking," she said.
Marvin Banks is accused of shooting officers Benjamin Deen and Liquori Tate. The officers died Saturday after Deen was shot in the face, and Tate in the back.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) —
Royal Dutch Shell's Arctic drilling program has cleared a major bureaucratic hurdle to begin drilling for oil and gas off Alaska's northwestern coast this summer.
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management on Monday approved the multi-year exploration plan in the Chukchi Sea for Shell after reviewing thousands of comments from the public, Alaska Native organizations and state and federal agencies.
The approval came just days before a planned protest of the drilling program in Seattle.
Shell must still obtain other permits from state and federal agencies, including one to drill from the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement. Both BOEM and BSEE are agencies of the U.S. Department of Interior. The company must also obtain government opinions that find Shell can comply with terms and conditions of the Endangered Species Act.
Shell spokesman Curtis Smith said the approval "is an important milestone and signals the confidence regulators have in our plan. However, before operations can begin this summer, it's imperative that the remainder of our permits be practical, and delivered in a timely manner.
"In the meantime, we will continue to test and prepare our contractors, assets and contingency plans against the high bar stakeholders and regulators expect of an Arctic operator," Smith said in an email to The Associated Press.
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management's director, Abigail Ross Hopper, said in a statement that officials recognize "the significant environmental, social and ecological resources in the region" and have established "high standards for the protection of this critical ecosystem, our Arctic communities, and the subsistence needs and cultural traditions of Alaska Natives."
"As we move forward, any offshore exploratory activities will continue to be subject to rigorous safety standards," she said.
The Port of Seattle would need to get another permit to base the Arctic drilling fleet in Seattle for about six months of the year.
Meanwhile, Smith said that a giant floating oil rig currently anchored off Port Angeles, Washington, will be towed to Seattle this week despite the Seattle mayor's assertion that the Port of Seattle can't host the rig until it gets a new land-use permit.
Smith said in another email that the 400-foot-long Polar Pioneer was scheduled to arrive at the Port of Seattle's Terminal 5 "later in the week" to prepare for planned exploration in the Arctic Ocean.
Smith said his company believes its arrangements to use the terminal are valid and disagrees with Seattle's interpretation.
Seattle Mayor Ed Murray has urged the port to reconsider its two-year, $13 million lease with Foss Maritime, a company whose client is Shell.
Activists plan to protest. A so-called "festival of resistance" starts Saturday and will include protesters on land and in kayaks, trying to block the ship's movements.
Environmental groups on Monday blasted the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management for providing the permit to Shell.
"This decision places big oil before people, putting the Arctic's iconic wildlife and the health of our planet on the line," Erik Grafe, an attorney for Earthjustice, said in a statement. "The agency should not be approving such threatening plans based on a rushed and incomplete environmental and safety review. Ultimately, Arctic Ocean drilling is far too risky and undermines the administration's efforts to address climate change and transition to a clean energy future."
Shell's drilling plan proposes to drill up to six wells within the Burger Prospect, located about 70 miles northwest of the village of Wainwright, Alaska. The wells would be drilled in about 140 feet of water by the Polar Pioneer and the Noble Discoverer. Both vessels would provide relief-well capability for the other.
Shell has said the two ships will leave the Chukchi Sea at the end of each drilling season.
Arctic offshore reserves are estimated at 26 billion barrels of recoverable oil and 130 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, according to U.S. Geological Survey estimates.