Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders met in Flint, Michigan for the seventh Democratic debate, fresh off Sanders’ weekend wins in Kansas and Nebraska and the Maine caucuses and Clinton’s victory in Louisiana. Little happened in the debate to change the likely trajectory of the race, as Clinton’s lead in the delegate count expanded, and Sanders made some remarks about race that seemed unlikely to help him close the gap the frontrunner has opened up in support among communities of color. 

On the Republican side, Donald Trump notched significant wins in Kentucky and Louisiana, while Ted Cruz won Kansas and Maine; Marco Rubio carried Puerto Rico. Trump underperformed when compared with his poll numbers coming into the contests, suggesting late-deciding voters broke against him—and for Cruz, as opposed to Rubio. Both Trump and Cruz called for their other rivals to drop out; while the primary map going forward holds less promise on paper for Cruz, he stands to benefit from a consolidation of the anti-Trump sentiment in a two-person race.  That pressure may increase following Tuesday’s primary in Michigan.

New polling data (from Massachusetts, just before Super Tuesday) shows Trump supporters express greater concern about the U.S. becoming a majority-minority nation than other voters.

Advocates continue to use Trump’s frontrunner status to push the Latino community in particular toward greater civic engagement. There are signs that such efforts, undertaken by grantee the National Partnership for New Americans among others, may be bearing fruit; a New York Times report finds that “naturalization applications increased by 11 percent in the 2015 fiscal year over the year before, and jumped 14 percent during the six months ending in January, according to federal figures. The pace is picking up by the week, advocates say, and they estimate applications could approach 1 million in 2016, about 200,000 more than the average in recent years.”

Public Policy Polling conducted soundings in key states where Republicans face tough Senate races this fall, and found that solid majorities in New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin believe the Senate should take up Obama’s nominee to fill the Scalia vacancy on the Supreme Court. The survey results were blasted around by Americans United for Change.

A number of refugees fleeing violence in Central America remain in limbo at a detention facility in central Pennsylvania, pending a federal appeal of a state order to revoke the facility’s license. The ACLU has sued for the release of 29 families held at the Berks Family Residential Facility, arguing that they have not had a proper opportunity to press their claims for asylum in the U.S. Grantee the Migration Policy Institute called it an “awkward dilemma for the government,” adding “family detention is a delicate issue, and the interplay between trying to balance immigration policy goals, social services for kids and the law has made a controversial and potent mixture.”

A group of more than 120 city and county leaders plan to file an amicus brief in US v Texas, supporting the relief from deportation afforded millions of undocumented immigrants under President Obama’s executive orders being tested in the Supreme Court case, set for oral arguments in late April.

A new Gallup survey found Nevadans were more likely to say their state was a good place for immigrants to live than residents of any other state surveyed. West Virginians were least likely to say their state was hospitable to immigrants. 

Apple CEO Tim Cook got into it with Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton over Apple’s refusal to comply with the FBI’s request for help in hacking an iPhone belonging to one of the San Bernardino shooters. And in a move that could have an impact on the eventual outcome of that fight, the Justice Department submitted a brief arguing that a federal judge who refused to order Apple to help unlock another phone in a separate case in Brooklyn had erred.

 

Among other grantee activities:

--The Center for Community Change will appear at a Wednesday press briefing featuring Sen. Bob Menendez on what is at stake in US v Texas, the challenge to President Obama’s immigration executive actions now set for oral argument at the Supreme Court in late April.

--The Electronic Frontier Foundation came out in opposition to a congressional call for a special commission to investigate encryption issues, in light of the Apple-FBI showdown. The group said the commission plan is flawed because it “avoids crucial questions about U.S. capabilities and because its membership is skewed.”

--The Center for Democracy and Technology’s latest Tech Talk podcast focuses on the CDT brief in support of Apple in the court challenge to the FBI’s request for help in hacking an iPhone.

--The Southern Poverty Law Center tracked anti-Muslim commentary at CPAC, the annual Conservative Political Action Conference, held in Washington DC this past weekend.

--Linda Sarsour announced via an article in Colorlines that MPowerChange was launching a new online campaign to uplift Muslim voices in the face of rising Islamophobia and hate crime.