More than 3,100 people will leave Bureau of Prisons custody starting Friday, part of what Justice Department officials call “a truly monumental effort” to comply with the First Step Act, a criminal justice law passed by Congress last year.

Most of the offenders being freed have been convicted of drug-related crimes, and have been living in halfway houses across the United States in preparation for their release, acting BOP chief Hugh Hurwitz told reporters at a news conference in Washington.

Approximately 900 of the inmates are subject to immigration detention, and their fate now will be up to states or the Department of Homeland Security, he said.

The Justice Department announced that 250 more inmates who are elderly or terminally ill have transitioned into home confinement or compassionate release programs since President Trump signed the law last December.

Those programs existed in some form before the First Step Act, but advocates for prisoners and their families said they were used only sparingly and now are somewhat easier to access.

“The department intends to implement this law fully and on time, with the goal of reducing crime, enhancing public safety and strengthening the rule of law,” said Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen.

Authorities also unveiled a new risk assessment tool designed to identify prisoners who could benefit from prison programming that would allow them to win credits that count toward early release under the law.

Inmates will be reassessed every six months under that new program.

Questions about implementation

The Justice Department enlisted a think tank, the Hudson Institute, to assist with the assessment effort. But that decision has come under fire from key Democrats in Congress.

“The Hudson Institute and its leadership have opposed sentencing reform, opposed the First Step Act’s reforms, and authored an article entitled ‘Why Trump Should Oppose Criminal Justice Reform,'” as House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler and subcommittee chairwoman Karen Bass said earlier this year.

“We are concerned that the selection of a biased organization lacking requisite expertise may reflect a lack of intent to diligently and effectively implement the bipartisan criminal justice reforms,” they said.

Advocates seeking to overhaul the federal system welcomed news Friday that the Justice Department is moving ahead to implement the First Step Act. But they said they have ongoing concerns about funding and oversight, and they want Congress to hold the administration accountable.

Attorney General William Barr has been the subject of criticism that he holds outdated views about crime and punishment from the earlier era when he served as attorney general.

“There’s a lot of skepticism over whether this Justice Department is going to fully implement the law,” said Inimai Chettiar, legislative and policy director for the Justice Action Network.

“We definitely believe that Congress needs to step in and ensure that this is happening and to also fully fund the law because the only way that these recidivism reduction programs are going to be effective is if they are fully funded.”

Still, groups that work with inmates and their families said that whatever its failings, the First Step Act is making a difference.

“Every day of freedom is important,” said Kevin Ring, president of the group Families Against Mandatory Minimums. “We’re happy for the families who get to welcome home their loved ones a few weeks or months early.”

The racist rhetoric from President Trump attacking four freshmen Democratic women, who he tweeted should “go back” to their countries of origin, escalated Wednesday night at his campaign rally in North Carolina.

“Send her back,” the crowd chanted, during a riff in which the president criticized Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar, a Somali-born American citizen from Minnesota.

The president stood back for about 13 seconds before continuing on with his speech, not commenting on the chant, which hearkened back to the anti-Hillary Clinton “Lock her up” refrain, ubiquitous at 2016 Trump rallies.

Still, on Thursday, Trump claimed he tried to stop it, would try to do so in the future and that he disavows the chant.

“I was not happy with it,” he said when asked about it at the White House. “I disagree with it.”

But on Friday, Trump seemed to defend his chanting supporters, tweeting, “It is amazing how the Fake News Media became ‘crazed’ over the chant,” but “is totally calm & accepting of the most vile and disgusting statements made by” the congresswomen with whom he’s been feuding.

He referred to statements by three of them in his tweet, but there are four in the group — Omar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan. All four are U.S. citizens, and three were born in the United States.

What’s more, Trump also tweeted twice this week before his rally, “If you are not happy here, you can leave.” (Once, he did so in ALL CAPS.) So there appears to be some line of what’s acceptable or not in the president’s view, but it’s relative.

The next time that chant, or one like it, comes up at a rally, will Trump and stop it? That’s unclear but may be beside the point. What’s clear is this week highlighted — once again — that racial division and identity politics are going to be a major factor in the 2020 campaign and will almost certainly overshadow anything else that comes up.

That should come as no surprise. Trump has used white grievance to fuel his political rise — from his role in the birther movement questioning former President Barack Obama’s birth in Hawaii, to his campaign kickoff announcing Mexico was sending rapists and drugs to the United States, to his outsize focus on limiting immigration.

He’s used that grievance to sustain him in office — first, instituting a travel ban on people from countries his administration deemed a threat (they were all originally majority-Muslim countries), then wanting to require immigrants to “speak English,” to now using the go-back-to-where-you-came-from-if-you-don’t-like-it line.

And that could be why such a high percentage of Americans strongly disapprove of the job the president is doing. This week’s controversy also highlights the challenges the president faces in reelection, as he tries to find something to not only rally his base, but also attempt to plant doubt with independents about the direction Democrats want to take the country.

Why the effort to elevate the four congresswomen?

Trump and his campaign are trying to make the four congresswomen the faces of the Democratic Party.

Why? He knows that their liberal policies are at odds with Democratic leadership and unpopular in swing parts of the country, so Trump is trying to tie them together.

He noted this week that his attack “forced” Democrats to rally around the women.

For Trump, the choice is binary — if you defend the four congresswomen in any way, then you endorse all of their statements and policies. That’s a slippery slope, but one Trump’s campaign is happy to sled down.

Just hours before Trump said he was “not happy” with the “send her back” chant at his rally, his campaign declined to distance itself from it.

“The Squad, as they call themselves, are now the leaders of the Democrat Party,” campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh told NPR’s Tamara Keith in a statement when asked if the campaign would disavow it. “Americans don’t like it when elected officials consistently disparage this country. All the Democrats are pushing socialist ideas that are terrible for America. They are all the same.”

Trump’s tweet about forcing Democrats to defend the four congresswomen and the campaign’s initial response to the rally chant make the political strategy plain. Facing reelection, the president hasn’t done much to reach out beyond his loyal base of supporters, who still very much support him, but he needs to win over independents. So try to make them think Democrats and their most extreme wing are one and the same while Democratic presidential candidates duke it out in their primary.

In other words, define Trump’s eventual opponent as too far left for the country even before there is a nominee.

Independents have been a bright red flashing warning light for this president

For much of the last two-and-a-half years since Trump became president, independents have tracked with Democrats on many issues (except on the question of whether to begin impeachment proceedings).

That support from independents helped propel Democrats to take back the House in 2018, and independents are especially vital for Republicans to win in presidential elections.

Just how much? Republicans have won independents in seven of the last 11 presidential elections, and they won six of those elections. 2012 was the exception with Mitt Romney winning independents by 5, but losing the election. In 2016, Trump won them by 4 points, according to exit polls, but lost the popular vote.

That demonstrates the need, even more so, for Republicans to win independents, as independents have become a larger share of the electorate – 31% in 2016 versus 26% in 2004.

Meanwhile, Trump is personally under water with independents. While he saw his highest quarterly approval rating on average this past quarter, according to Gallup — with an average of about 43% — that’s still lower than his percentage of the vote in 2016 (about 46%).

Dragging him down? Just 35% of independents approved of the job he’s doing. So it’s no surprise that Trump is grasping for something to sway them.

The GOP and conservative media have been vilifying Ocasio-Cortez and Omar, in particular – and a poll, leaked by Democrats, showed just how much Democrats don’t want them to be the focus. It found that both Ocasio-Cortez and Omar are fairly well known and unpopular with “swing voters,” whites without a college degree in swing House districts.

But what else is unpopular with independents and swing voters? Racism, or at least the appearance of it.

That could explain why Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Minn., the head of the committee tasked with electing Republicans to the House, said at a breakfast with reporters Thursday of the chant, “There’s no place for that kind of talk. I don’t agree with that.”

The fact remains that while Democrats are trying to figure out their way forward, Trump also has a lot of work to do to win reelection in 2020.

His campaign is banking on another very close election, one that sees a similar path to his victory in 2016. And remember, that only was decided by 78,000 votes across three Upper Midwest states — and Trump lost the popular vote by 3 million votes.

So strap in. This next election is going to be a turbulent ride for a country whose moral fabric is already being stretched perilously thin.

Rep. Ilhan Omar, one of the freshman Democratic congresswoman facing attacks from President Trump and his supporters, received a hero’s welcome back at her home district in Minnesota on Thursday.

A cheering crown at the airport in the Twin Cities held banners with slogans such as “Stop Racism Now” and chanted “Welcome Home Ilhan” as the congresswoman emerged from her flight.

“We are going to continue to be a nightmare to this president,” she said into a megaphone, “because his policies are a nightmare to us. We are not deterred, we are not frightened, we are ready.”

Watch the moment here, captured on video by Tom Hauser of KSTP:

Throughout this past week, Trump has targeted Omar and her fellow progressive congresswomen — New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib and Massachusetts Rep. Ayanna Pressley — with repeated attacks. In a tweet on Sunday, he said the four women of color should “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came.”

And at a rally on Wednesday, Trump attacked each congresswoman individually. As he spoke about Omar, the crowd started to chant “send her back,” echoing the president’s tweet.

Omar, an American citizen, came to the U.S. as a refugee from Somalia when she was a child.

Trump attempted to distance himself from the racist chant on Thursday, saying “I wasn’t happy with that message that they gave last night.”

“It was quite a chant, and I felt a little bit badly about it. But I will say this, I did — and I started speaking very quickly. But it started up rather fast,” the president added.

However, as NPR’s Tamara Keith noted, “in reality, Trump stood there for 13 seconds as the chant continued, waiting for it to die down before he resumed his remarks.”

Omar traveled to the Twin Cities on Thursday to participate in a town hall to discuss “Medicare for All,” as CNN reported. “I know there are a lot of people that are trying to distract us now, but I want you all to know that we are not going to let them,” Omar told the crowd.

Earlier in the day, Omar told reporters in Washington, D.C. that she sees the president as a “fascist” and said she considered this fight about “what this country truly should be,” according to The Associated Press.

The lineup is now set for the second series of Democratic presidential primary debates, at the end of the month.

On the first night, progressive favorites Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren will be on stage together for the first time, while upstart South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg will be trying to continue his improbable rise.

On the second night, the marquee matchup will likely again be former Vice President Joe Biden versus California Sen. Kamala Harris, who had a nasty back-and-forth during their initial debate over Biden’s past opposition to busing in some instances.

It is also notable that with race playing such a big role not just this past week in politics with President Trump, but also in this Democratic campaign, that all of the candidates of color ended up being on stage together on the second night. That will make for odd optics on Night 1 and also potentially creates a difficult position for Biden, given the exchange over school integration in the first debate.

The debates will be held on July 30 and 31 in Detroit from 8 to 10 ET each night. Moderators will be CNN’s Dana Bash, Don Lemon and Jake Tapper.

Candidates for the July 30 debate: South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg, Montana Gov. Steve Bullock, former Maryland Rep. John Delaney, former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke, Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and author Marianne Williamson

Candidates for the July 31 debate: Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet, former Vice President Joe Biden, New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, California Sen. Kamala Harris, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and entrepreneur Andrew Yang

NBC News, which hosted the first series of debates last month, also held a random drawing in order to determine the debate stage pairings, but it was held off stage and without much fanfare.

CNN, however, hyped the potential face-offs to the highest drama, showing reporters shuffling names and then doing each drawing live (including from an overhead camera).

The network did make sure with their lottery that the candidate division would be more equitable, based on polling, across both nights. The network divided the candidates into three buckets and drew participants from each — the four top-tier candidates (Biden, Harris, Sanders and Warren); mid-range hopefuls (Booker, Buttigieg, Castro, Klobuchar, O’Rourke and Yang); and candidates who are mired near the bottom (Bennet, Bullock, de Blasio, Delaney, Gabbard, Gillibrand, Hickenlooper, Inslee, Ryan and Williamson).

In order to make the debate, Democratic hopefuls had to meet either a polling or fundraising benchmark. A candidate had to register at least 1% in three polls recognized by the Democratic National Committee. Or the candidates must have reached 65,000 donors, with at least 200 donors in 20 states. Fourteen candidates met both criteria.

Major candidates left off the stage include Massachusetts Rep. Seth Moulton and Miramar, Fla., Mayor Wayne Messam. Former Pennsylvania Rep. Joe Sestak, who just jumped in the contest last month, and billionaire executive and activist Tom Steyer, who last week reversed his initial decision to pass on the race, also didn’t qualify, given their late announcements.

However, the benchmarks will get harder for the next debate in September. Candidates will have to register at least 2% in at least four national or statewide polls recognized by the committee and get donations from at least 130,000 unique donors, along with 400 unique donors in 20 states. If a candidate does not hit both benchmarks, they will be off the stage.