Wednesday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Leahy welcomed State Representative Diana Harshbarger (R-TN-01) of East Tennessee in-studio to talk about funding her campaign and working in Washington.
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Republican Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich sent a letter to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Jan. 27 demanding that he stop allowing illegal migrants to travel through U.S. airports over a TSA policy permitting them to use arrest warrants as identification.
“Until there is a federal commitment to securing the border and enforcing existing laws, our office requests that you prohibit travel through U.S. airports by any migrant that is illegally here,” Brnovich wrote.
“It is an affront to the most basic common sense to allow anyone to use an ‘arrest warrant’ as acceptable identification to pass through government security,” he said.
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Republican lawmakers have demanded the Biden administration answer questions regarding alternate forms of identification the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) says it accepts from migrants traveling throughout the country.
Republican Texas Rep. Lance Gooden, along with 21 other Republican lawmakers, sent a letter Wednesday to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas raising concerns over a number of DHS documents migrants can use as identification, including certain arrest warrants, and the methods through which they are vetted.
The letter, exclusively obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation, also seeks information on how border patrol agents and others are able to verify a migrant’s identity when issuing the documents in the first place.
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Yuma Mayor Douglas Nicholls is speaking up about the recent surge of migrants in the Yuma sector on Arizona’s border with Mexico, explaining why it’s occurring and recommending solutions. He believes there are several factors contributing to the 2,405% increase in migrant apprehensions, and says there are both long-term and short-term ways to resolve the problem.
“The ‘Remain in Mexico’ policy of the Trump administration was ordered put back in place by the courts, but that has not fully happened,” he told The Arizona Sun Times. “In 2019 and 2020, there were 50 to 60 migrants a day being returned under the policy. Now, there are only about 10 a day. With 1,000 coming across the border daily now, that’s only 1%.”
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Congressional candidate Jim Bognet this week denounced transport of illegal aliens into Pennsylvania and rebuked his prospective opponent Rep. Matt Cartwright (D-PA-08) for inattention to the issue.
The Republican attorney and small-business owner who challenged Cartwright in 2020 aims to do so again next year and is taking the Democrat to task for his pro-open-borders record and his general alignment with President Joe Biden on migration and border security. A Hazleton native, Bognet said illegal immigration has palpably burdened parts of the Keystone State’s northeast. He called for a return to the tighter security policies pursued by former President Donald Trump and for the resignation of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
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The Biden administration is drowning on issue after issue, and many of the bubbles are coming from the Rio Grande River. The problem, which dare not speak its name, is illegal immigration. The administration, its political party, and the mainstream media refuse to say the very word “illegal.” For a while, they called it “undocumented,” pretending the migrants somehow forgot their papers in the top dresser drawer in Guatemala or Haiti. Now, even that bland phrase is deemed too clear and honest. The new woke term is “irregular immigration.” Anything to minimize the problem, sway public opinion, and avoid plain talk.
The obfuscation goes much further than a few phrases. Consider Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas’ testimony to Congress last week, where he faced awkward questions about the administration’s decision to stop building the border wall, including portions that had already been contracted and paid for. Mayorkas’ reply, “We are not going to construct a border wall along the ragged and jagged cliffs along certain parts of the border.”
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The Biden administration said it’s no longer releasing migrants into the U.S. without court dates, CNN Politics reported Tuesday.
Migrants will be issued formal notices to appear in an immigration court when released from federal custody instead of notices to report, which direct them to check in with an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office within 60 days, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said, according to CNN.
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On Friday, Customs and Border Patrol agents received instructions on a new policy: Effective immediately, the Department of Homeland Security would no longer allow deportations of Nicaraguan illegal aliens under Title 42, a clause within the 1944 Public Health Services Law that “allows the government to prevent the introduction of individuals during certain public health emergencies.”
All Nicaraguans entering the U.S. illegally, with some exceptions related to criminal history, will be released directly into the U.S. as of Friday afternoon, Just The News has learned.
The order to all CBP agents was issued verbally on a conference call. Official orders in writing are expected soon. The Department of Homeland Security has not issued a statement, nor has CBP.
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Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) wrote a letter to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Mayorkas demanding answers about Biden’s ‘failed policies’ at the border. Johnson wanted to know when the government was made aware of the surge of Haitian immigrants at the border and why they ignored that intelligence.
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Rep. Andy Biggs (R-05-AZ) and Rep. James Comer (R-01-KY) sent a letter to Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas demanding answers regarding new “Guidelines for the Enforcement of Civil Immigration Law” that they assert hamper the ability of ICE agents to enforce immigration laws. They warn that the new guidelines will restrict enforcement even more than the interim guidance which was implemented in January, which caused arrests and removals to plummet by more than 60 percent.
Biggs called to remove Mayorkas in a statement accompanying the letter, “These guidelines are an affront to the rule of law and will only further incentivize illegal immigration. Instead of preventing ICE from enforcing the law, the Biden administration should be empowering them to keep our country safe. Moreover, Secretary Mayorkas should be removed from his position of authority immediately for implementing crisis-creating policies.”
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In a controversial passage in Plato’s Republic, Socrates introduced the idea of the “noble lie” (“gennaios pseudos”).
A majestic fiction, he says, could sometimes serve society by persuading uninformed citizens of something good for them.
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After three weeks in Europe and extensive discussions with dozens of well-informed and highly placed individuals from most of the principal Western European countries, including leading members of the British government, I have the unpleasant duty of reporting complete incomprehension and incredulity at what Joe Biden and his collaborators encapsulate in the peppy but misleading phrase, “We’re back.”
As one eminent elected British government official put it, “They are not back in any conventional sense of that word. We have worked closely with the Americans for many decades and we have never seen such a shambles of incompetent administration, diplomatic incoherence, and complete military ineptitude as we have seen in these nine months. We were startled by Trump, but he clearly knew what he was doing, whatever we or anyone else thought about it. This is just a disintegration of the authority of a great nation for no apparent reason.”
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The Biden-Harris administration has lost track of at least 45,000 unaccompanied minors who were brought across the southern border illegally — and President Joe Biden has yet to issue a statement about it.
So far this year, unaccompanied minors arriving at the border have hit record numbers. In June, there were 15,234 encounters with unaccompanied children, in July, 18,958 encounters, and in August, there were 18,847 encounters, according to Customs and Border Patrol data.
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A significant group of Arizona Republican legislators is calling upon Gov. Doug Ducey to declare a state of emergency over the crisis on the border between Arizona and Mexico. The 24 senators and representatives sent the letter to Ducey on Tuesday.
Rep. Leo Biasiucci (R-Lake Havasu), the Majority Whip, told The Arizona Sun Times, “I think all of America can agree that our southern border is a complete disaster. As this Biden-Harris administration continues to ignore our calls for help, thousands of illegal immigrants are pouring into our state daily. This administration is signaling to the world that we have an open border. Myself, along with my Republican colleagues at the Arizona Legislature, will not tolerate this lawlessness anymore. We are a land of law and order. But when the federal government fails at their duty to protect our border, it is up to us to uphold our oath to the constitution and do whatever it takes to help stop this invasion.”
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Wednesday morning on the Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed Mark Morgan, Former Acting Commissioner of US Customs and Border Protection to the microphones to discuss the borders effect on all of America and leadership differences of former President Trump and President Biden.
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Wednesday morning on the Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed author and former Acting Director of ICE Tom Homan to the microphones to describe the morale of ICE officials, Alejandro Mayorkas’s dereliction of duty, and the consequences of open borders.
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Alejandro Mayorkas, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), announced on Monday that the rate of illegal aliens carrying diseases with them into the country is “approximately 20 percent,” even though many such illegals have not been properly tested, as reported by the New York Post.
“When one is speaking of 7,000 or 7,500 people encountered at the border every day,” Mayorkas said at a press conference, “if one takes a look at that system, it is not built for that in a COVID environment where isolation is required.”
Mayorkas did not expand on what he meant by “illness,” and whether he was referring to the Chinese coronavirus or other diseases. However, he did mention that he does not expect to see a “tragic rise in the Delta variant” (also known as the India variant) following the latest surge at the border, which saw over 10,000 illegals, mostly from Haiti, enter the country illegally.
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Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said he would hire any Border Patrol agent fired by the Biden administration after White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said agents would no longer be permitted to use horses to guard the border in Del Rio, Texas.
Criticism of mounted agents was widespread after a photograph showing agents using horse reins was misconstrued by members of the media and some politicians suggesting the agent was using the reins as a “whip.”
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Around 12,400 migrants could be allowed to remain in the U.S., Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said during a White House press conference on Friday.
Border officials relied on Title 42, a Trump-era public health order implemented in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, to expel most migrants from the U.S., according to Mayorkas. Migrants who needed immediate medical attention or who feared torture if they were returned to their home country weren’t subject to removal.
“Approximately 12,400 will have cases heard by an immigration judge to make a determination on whether they’ll be removed or permitted to remain in the United States,” Mayorkas said. If someone is not subject to title 42 expulsion for the three reasons that I explained, acute vulnerability, operational capacity limitations, or a convention against torture exception, then the individual is placed in immigration proceedings.
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Border Patrol agents requested additional federal aid in Del Rio, Texas, months before thousands of migrants set up a temporary camp under an international bridge and overwhelmed immigration officials, CNN Politics reported Thursday.
Border officials reported an increase in migrants crossing the Rio Grande River earlier in the summer but didn’t know more than 14,000 migrants would end up setting up camp under the bridge, according to CNN Politics. On June 1, the union representing Del Rio Border Patrol agents asked for additional technology resources to help agents quickly process large groups of migrants in the field before sending them to a station.
“This way, we can at least get part of the process finished before they even get to the station instead of wasting that time,” said Jon Afinsen, president of the National Border Patrol Council in Del Rio, in an email exchange with regional Border Patrol management, CNN Politics reported.
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Concerned about the lack of testing of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border, Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich sent a letter to Xavier Becerra, Secretary of Health and Human Services, demanding to know what the Biden administration is doing to ensure that migrants apprehended crossing the border who are infected with COVID-19 or who have been exposed to it are not coming into contact with Americans. He gave Becerra until October 1 to respond. Considering Brnovich has sued the Biden administration multiple times, it appeared to be a threat that he would file another lawsuit if nothing was done.
Brnovich said in his letter, “The Biden administration has chosen the path of increasing government regulation at opposing individual liberties when it comes to handling COVID-19 in the midst of American communities. Yet this same administration has been nothing short of laissez-faire in dealing with tens of thousands of migrants that are pouring across our open border and being ferried across our nation during the same world-wide pandemic. This hypocrisy is stunning and fundamentally unfair to American citizens.”
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Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich led 15 other attorneys general to file an amicus curiae brief on August 30 in a lawsuit requesting to halt the Biden administration’s “Interim Guidance” policy of not enforcing laws against illegal immigration when it comes to crime. The lawsuit was filed against the Biden administration on April 6 by the attorneys general of Texas and Louisiana accusing Biden of endangering Americans by no longer arresting or deporting nearly all illegal immigrants involved in crime. Brnovich and the coalition asked the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals to deny Biden’s request for a stay of his policy while his administration appeals a trial court’s ruling halting the policy.
“The Biden Administration continues to intentionally violate federal immigration laws and endanger all Americans,” said Brnovich in a statement. “We continue to see the release of convicted felons, COVID-19 positive migrants, and record levels of dangerous drugs into cities across our country. These reckless policies are illegal, unconscionable and disgraceful. The Biden Administration must be held accountable.”
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Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ-04) introduced the “Americans Not Aliens Act” on August 20, which would prevent the Department of Homeland Security from issuing work permits to migrants with deportation orders. These are generally illegal immigrants who have received hearings before an immigration judge who has declined to give them asylum, instead ordering their removal.
“Providing work permits to aliens who have been ordered removed from the United States is the very definition of insanity,” Gosar said in a statement. “At a time when American citizens are struggling to find jobs, my legislation removes the incentives for aliens to ignore the rule of law and not return to their country of origin.” Under the current system, they can easily find jobs in America which they may not be able to find in their home countries.
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An Arizona congressman said that he will file articles of impeachment against Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas “in the coming weeks.”
Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ-05) said the following in a statement on his website:
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U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., are asking President Joe Biden to appoint former Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson to a special executive position to manage the border crisis.
In a letter to Biden and DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, Cuellar and Graham wrote, “We write to you with a sense of urgency regarding the escalating situation at our southern border. In doing so, we hope to demonstrate that this bicameral concern is neither partisan nor political. To solve the growing problem, we request a special executive appointment for border issues to ensure sufficient federal resources are allocated to overburdened U.S. border communities and to recommend changes to our immigration policies as we work to regain control of the border.”
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U.S. District Court Judge Susan Bolton denied Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich’s request to require timely deportations from federal authorities. Federal law states that authorities must deport illegal immigrants within 90 days.
In the ruling, issued last Wednesday, Bolton conceded that the law does require deportations within 90 days at first glance. However, Bolton explained that closer inspection of the law and history rendered its intent dubious.
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Tuesday morning on the Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed former acting director of ICE, Tom Homan to the newsmakers line to discuss the Biden administration’s facilitation of cross-border crime by design.
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Friday morning on the Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach to the newsmakers line to explain his lawsuit representing Texas sheriffs and ICE officials against the Biden administration.
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Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told employees he’s considering building more sections of the border wall to fill in “gaps,” The Washington Times reported Monday.
President Joe Biden stopped federal funding to the southern border wall, though Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials reportedly asked Mayorkas last week what his plans for the wall are, according to the Times. Biden issued a Jan. 20 executive order ceasing all construction on the southern border wall.
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Alejandro Mayorkas, the secretary for homeland security, refused to call the situation at the southern U.S. border a “crisis” during a House hearing on Wednesday, even though he acknowledged earlier this week that border apprehensions are on pace to reach levels not seen in 20 years.
“Mr. Ranking Member, I’m not spending any time on the language that we use,” Mayorkas told Republican Rep. John Katko during a House Homeland Security Committee hearing when asked if the surge should be characterized as a crisis.
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There was no break-in period for the new Department of Homeland Security secretary.
Alejandro Mayorkas went from his confirmation hearing in the Senate to confronting a surge of migrants along the southern border almost immediately, and while the new DHS chief won’t call the current situation a crisis, he did announce Tuesday that the nation is on track to record the highest number of apprehensions in over two decades.
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Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said Tuesday that the number of migrants apprehended at the United States’ southern border is on track to hit a two-decade high.
“We are on pace to encounter more individuals on the southwest border than we have in the last 20 years,” Mayorkas said in a statement. “We are expelling most single adults and families. We are not expelling unaccompanied children.”
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by Chuck Ross Alejandro Mayorkas, President-elect Joe Biden’s nominee for secretary of homeland security, received $3.3 million last year as a partner at his law firm, where he represented a defense contractor accused of kickbacks to secure a Department of Energy contract and a utility company found responsible for an explosion that killed one person in Massachusetts. Mayorkas, who served as deputy secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) under President Barack Obama, also faced an investigation during the Obama administration regarding a visa program he oversaw as director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). A 2015 report from the DHS inspector general said Mayorkas “exerted improper influence” to help politically-connected Democrats navigate the EB-5 visa program, which awards green cards to foreigners who invest in American companies. Mayorkas was also accused in a House report in 2002 of “inappropriate” intervention on behalf of a Democratic donor who sought a presidential pardon from Bill Clinton. Mayorkas will appear before the Senate Homeland Security Committee on Jan. 19 for his confirmation hearing. Mayorkas, who was a U.S. attorney in Los Angeles during the Clinton administration, joined Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr, a prominent Big Law firm, after…
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President-elect Joe Biden’s pick to lead the Department of Homeland Security was accused in a government watchdog report during the Obama administration of exerting improper influence to help high-profile Democrats navigate a government visa program to help their wealthy foreign investors.
Biden’s transition team announced on Monday that he will pick Alejandro Mayorkas, the former deputy secretary of homeland security, to lead the agency.
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