Alejandro Mayorkas Ordered to Provide Key Documents on Terror Threat from Border Crisis

Mayorkas Border Crisis

A top Republican lawmaker is ordering Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to provide key documents pertaining to illegal migrants encountered at the southern border who have potential ties to terrorism.

House Homeland Security Chairman Mark Green issued the subpoena to Mayorkas on Friday, requiring him to hand over all “documents and communications” since Jan. 20, 2021, that could shed light on the matter. The chairman is accusing Mayorkas of slow-walking requests for information about the number of suspected terrorists illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border, according to a letter from Green.

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Illegal Immigration a Top 2024 Election Issue with Immigrant Crime Map, Poll Shows Problem

Illegal Immigrants Arrested

Illegal immigration is one of the most important problems for Americans, and a new “Illegal Alien Crime” map as well as a poll about language surrounding the issue highlights the significance of the border crisis in the minds of voters ahead of the 2024 election.

Polling from Gallup shows that U.S. adults have consistently ranked immigration as a top issue every month since at least November 2023. The polls come as the Biden administration has overseen record numbers of illegal immigrant encounters.

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Rep. Ruben Gallego Claimed Border Crisis ‘Not as Important’ for Arizona in Video Slammed by Senate Republicans

Ruben Gallego

A video purportedly from a virtual town hall event featuring Representative Ruben Gallego (D-AZ-03) shows the Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate claiming the situation at the U.S.-Mexico border is “not as important” to Arizona voters.

Originally posted online by the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), Gallego stated in the video, “The border, people talk about, it’s not as important and salient as it is I think in other states. We do talk about it, we do worry about it, but it is not, I think, as heavy as it is in other states.”

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California Mayor Cites Surge in Border Encounters as Evidence of Federal Enforcement Failure

Mayor Bill Wells

Republican El Cajon Mayor Bill Wells cited a surge in border encounters as proof of federal enforcement failures, Newsweek reported.

Wells pointed out the concerning surge in border encounters within San Diego County, noting a major shift in migration patterns and federal border enforcement efforts. He stated that San Diego County experienced an unprecedented 37,370 border encounters in April, exceeding the figures in sectors like Tucson, El Paso, and Del Rio for the first time in over two decades. Wells expressed astonishment and concern over the escalating border encounter numbers, according to Newsweek.

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Judge Dismisses Riot Charges for over 100 Migrants Who Rushed Border

Judge Ruben Morales

A county judge dismissed 140 cases against migrants charged with rioting at the U.S. southern border, finding there was no reason to arrest them.

El Paso County Court at Law 7 Judge Ruben Morales on Monday found no probable cause from Texas Department of Public Safety state troopers to restrain the 140 migrants who were arrested earlier this month for rioting, according to the El Paso Times. The charges stemmed from an incident on April 12 when a group of migrants in El Paso’s Lower Valley cut through concertina wire at the border and then rushed into the U.S.

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Commentary: Biden Losing Support of Young Men Due to Border Crisis

Illegal Immigrants

The latest Harvard Youth Poll reveals President Joe Biden has lost significant ground with voters under thirty compared to four years ago, with a 20-point decline among young men. While young Americans give Biden low marks on foreign policy and economic issues including inflation, housing, and the job market, immigration is a leading factor in young people’s departure from Democrats. 

Biden currently leads Trump by thirteen percentage points (50 percent to 37 percent) among registered voters under thirty in the Harvard Youth Poll, a slightly higher margin than he has led by in other recent polls that include young people as a subset.

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Biden Suggests It’s Risky for Him to Secure Border by Executive Orders

President Joe Biden indicated in a new interview that he is considering taking executive action to secure the southern border.

“Have you made a final decision on taking executive order in terms of what you want to do at the border? That includes the power to shut down the border, as it was suggested,” Univision’s Enrique Acevedo asked Biden in an interview that aired late Tuesday night.

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More than 100 Sheriffs Express Support for Operation Lone Star

Sheriffs with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott

More than 100 sheriffs in Texas expressed support for Gov. Greg Abbott’s border security effort, Operation Lone Star. They also are calling for the border crisis to be declared a “United States constitutional crisis and crimes against humanity.”

In a letter to the governor, the sheriffs “respectfully request that our Texas border be immediately secured by any lawful means.”

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Border Crisis: Water Scarcity Forces Texas’ Last Sugar Mill to Close

Sugar Cane Farmer

The border crisis has taken on many forms in Texas, from crime to fentanyl poisonings to farmers and ranchers losing their livelihoods.

Another casualty of the border crisis is the U.S. State Department’s failure to hold accountable Mexican government authorities to a 1944 Treaty of Utilization of Waters, resulting in Texas’ last sugar mill shut down, the industry contends. The Rio Grande Valley is bracing for an expected initial $100 million in economic losses as a result.

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FBI Director: Smuggling Organizations Connected to ISIS Coming Through U.S. Border

FBI Director Christopher Wray

FBI Director Christopher Wray on Monday confirmed that a smuggling organization working with the terrorist organization ISIS is funneling criminals through the U.S. border. He also said the FBI is currently investigating its operations that ‘we’re very concerned about.’

In a U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence hearing held on Monday on worldwide threats to the United States, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Florida, asked Wray about threats coming through the U.S. border.

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Tennessee National Guard Deploying to Southern Border

Tennessee’s governor Saturday announced that more Tennessee National Guard members will be deployed to the U.S. southern border with Mexico. 

“America continues to face an unprecedented border crisis, and people across the nation are experiencing the devastating consequences of rising crime, drug trafficking and human trafficking,” said Gov. Bill Lee (R) in a press release. “Governors are working together, taking immediate action to do what the federal government won’t do, and that is secure our border. I commend Tennessee’s National Guard troops for answering this important call to service and providing critical support.”

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Trump Calls Border Crisis ‘Biden invasion’

Donald Trump And Gov Greg At Border

Former President Donald Trump on Thursday said the border crisis is a “a Joe Biden invasion. This is a Biden invasion.”

He met with Gov. Greg Abbott in Eagle Pass, Texas, to tour a new military base established through Abbott’s border security mission, Operation Lone Star. “What they showed me is nothing less than incredible. This is a military operation. This is like a war,” he said.

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Former Trump Campaign Spokesman Steve Cortes Says Murder of Georgia Nursing Student Was ‘100 Percent Preventable’

Laken Riley

Steve Cortes, former senior spokesman and strategist for the 2016 and 2020 Trump campaigns and current head of the League of American Workers, said the murder of 22-year-old Georgia nursing student Laken Riley was “100 percent preventable” if it weren’t for the “radical open borders agenda” of President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

Jose Ibarra, a 26-year-old illegal alien from Venezuela, was arrested and charged last week for his alleged murder of Riley, who died from blunt-force trauma to her head.

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U.S. Senator Bill Hagerty Travels to the U.S.-Mexico Border

Senator Bill Hagerty at Southern Border

Tennessee U.S. Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN) traveled to the U.S.-Mexico border on Tuesday with Tennessee sheriffs and mayors to meet with law enforcement and property owners.

“I’m back at the southern border here in Texas,” Hagerty said in a video message posted to X. “We’re just in the outskirts of Eagle Pass right now. I brought another delegation of sheriffs and mayors and law enforcement from Tennessee just like I did two years ago. What we’re seeing is even worse than it was two year ago.”

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Laura Loomer Details Trip to the Darién Gap to Document ‘Most Dangerous’ Passageway for Illegal Aliens Crossing into North America

Laura Loomer

Investigative journalist Laura Loomer is traveling to the Darién Gap between Colombia and Panama for a week-long trip to document how illegal aliens and other dangerous groups utilize the only land path connecting Central and South America to get to North America.

The Darién Gap, which consists of more than 60 miles of dense rainforest, steep mountains, and vast swamps, is not only a passageway for migrants from South America, Loomer said, but a hotspot for Hamas and Hezbollah networks, drug cartels, and human trafficking groups.

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Tennessee U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles Introduces the Send Them Back Act

Ogles Illegal Immigrants

Tennessee U.S. Representative Andy Ogles (R-TN-05) introduced a bill on Tuesday that would make all illegal aliens who have entered the U.S. since January 20, 2021 eligible for expedited removal from the country.

Ogles’ bill is titled the Sending Evading Non-Documented Threats Home Especially Migrants Biden Accepted Carelessly and Knowingly (SEND THEM BACK) Act.

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Commentary: The Border Crisis Is Front and Center in Battleground States and Even Liberals Have Had Enough

Illegal Immigrants CBP

Despite economic issues dominating voters’ minds this election year, the unprecedented chaos at the southern border is forcing immigration into the spotlight, and nearly two-thirds of voters blame Biden for the border crisis.

A blistering new Bloomberg News/Morning Consult survey shows the share of voters who say immigration will be the most important issue to them on election day has risen in six of the seven swing states polled.

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Nearly 600 Illegal Aliens May Be Transported to Middle Tennessee, DHS Notice Says

A notice from last September by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) reported that a total of 573 “noncitizens” from Guatemala, Venezuela, Honduras, and Mexico intended on traveling to Franklin, Nashville, Davidson County, and Murfreesboro following their release from DHS custody.

The notice, dated as the week ending September 16, 2023, is titled “Intended Destination of Noncitizens Processed at the Southwest Border.”

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House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green Says He’s ‘Working Hard’ to Secure the Votes to Impeach DHS Secretary Mayorkas

Rep. Mark Green

Tennessee U.S. Representative and chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee Mark Green (R-TN-07) joined Thursday’s edition of The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy to discuss his efforts in the impeachment process of Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

Green, who led his Republican colleagues in voting to advance two articles of impeachment against Mayorkas out of committee on Wednesday, told Leahy that Mayorkas not only refused to enforce the law himself, but directed his staff to do the same.

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Border Patrol Facing Loss of Agents from Retirement, Flat Recruitment as Border Crisis Intensifies

CBP Agent

The nearly 10,000 border patrol agents eligible for retirement by 2028 and static recruitment numbers threaten to undermine future efforts to secure the Southern border, even as the current immigration crisis escalates.

By 2028, a total of 9,828 current border patrol agents will be eligible for retirement, according to numbers provided to Transport Dive by a Customs and Border Protection official. The agency, which has been plagued by a recruitment shortfalls for years, says it is preparing to deal with the fallout if even a fraction of the eligible agents retire on schedule.

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Tennessee Attorney General Joins Letter Supporting Texas’ Border Defense Barriers

Skrmetti Border

Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti joined a coalition of 26 other attorneys general in sending a letter to the Biden administration proclaiming support for the steps Texas has taken at its border with Mexico to prevent illegal immigrant crossings.

Last week, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in favor of the Biden administration to allow Border Patrol agents to cut through or move razor wire Texas installed on its border with Mexico to prevent illegal entries into the U.S.

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Arizona AG Announces Fentanyl Seizures as Border Crisis Rages On

Arizona Fentanyl

Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes said Thursday that 525,000 illegal fentanyl pills were seized by the government.

“This operation is a significant step forward in our ongoing fight against criminal drug distribution in our state,” Mayes said in a statement. “The collaboration between my office and our local and federal law enforcement partners has been vital to our efforts at keeping this deadly drug off our streets. We will continue to aggressively investigate and prosecute these crimes to the fullest extent of the law.” 

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Leahy Tells Bannon Texas Gov. Abbott’s Response to Supreme Court’s Decision on Border Wire Sounds a Lot Like Andrew Jackson

MLP

Editor-in-Chief and CEO of The Tennessee Star Michael Patrick Leahy joined Steve Bannon’s War Room on Wednesday to discuss Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s response to the Supreme Court’s 5-4 ruling in favor of the Biden administration, which allows Border Patrol agents to cut through or move razor wire the state installed on its border with Mexico to prevent illegal immigrants from crossing.

In a statement released Wednesday, Abbott argued President Joe Biden has “refused to enforce” current federal laws protecting states, “including immigration laws on the books right now.”

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Senator Marsha Blackburn Introduces Bill to Empower Border States to Place Temporary Barriers on Federal Land

Blackburn Border Wall

U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) joined a group of her Republican colleagues in introducing a bill that would authorize U.S. states bordering Canada or Mexico to place temporary structures on federal land to secure its border.

While the U.S. Constitution currently provides for the protection of states “against invasion” and reserves the right of states to defend themselves, states are unable to place structures on federal land without first obtaining authorization from the federal government under current law.

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Officials Say Border Crisis Tied to Break-Ins Orchestrated by Columbians, Chileans

The border crisis has hit several milestones, with an estimated 10 million illegal entries since January 2021, increased reports of infectious disease spreading, and a crime wave being reported in states nationwide.

A county executive from Long Island, New York, told U.S. House Homeland Security Subcommittee members at a hearing held earlier this month that illegal foreign nationals released into the U.S. by the Biden administration are dealing drugs, stealing cars, burglarizing and committing violent crimes.  

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Immigration Courts Add 1 Million Cases to Backlog as Border Crisis Worsens

The immigration court backlog increased by a whopping one million cases in a single year as the surge at the southern border continues, according to a new report from Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC).

The number of pending cases in U.S. immigration courts reached three million in November, marking a new record, TRAC, which analyzes data provided by the Executive Office of Immigration Review (EOIR), reported Monday. The backlog is expected to only worsen with the continued record flow of illegal immigration at the southern border.

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Commentary: Polling from the Frontlines of the Border Crisis

Illegal Immigrant Arrests

Arizona voters have had more than enough of Biden’s border radicalism, as revealed by our brand-new battleground state polling. 

Immigration abuses alarm Arizona residents who occupy the front lines of the Biden border disaster. In Arizona, law enforcement, local officials, and regular citizens must cope, every day, with the tangible reality of the safety and logistical nightmare created by Biden’s border recklessness. These hard-working citizens also deal most acutely with the lasting fallout of uncontrolled migration, especially regarding unaffordable housing and stagnant real wages. 

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Commentary: Biden Plans to Vastly Expand ‘Refugee’ Applicants to Circumvent Border Crisis

While there is a dearth of data showing the border crisis is costing Biden heavily in polls, Biden’s plan to dramatically expand immigration and resettle record-breaking numbers of individuals from Latin America through the refugee program is wildly out of step with public opinion.  

Not only have the massive spikes in illegal border crossings strained border patrol resources and posed threats to national security, but the Biden Administration’s response is to vastly expand the number of individuals entering the U.S. under the refugee program.

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The Border Crisis Is Crippling U.S. Companies’ Supply Chains

Trade across the U.S.-Mexico border is being severely hampered due to an ongoing migrant crisis that is threatening businesses’ supply chains, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The southern border is facing a massive influx of migrants crossing into the U.S. illegally, with the U.S. Border Patrol reporting that a record high of 22,000 illegal migrants were being held in custody on Tuesday as opposed to just 7,696 on June 8. Trade that U.S. companies rely on for their supply chains is being hampered due to delays at points of entry that are being shut down by Border Patro to address the surge, according to the WSJ.

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Rep. Mark Green Reveals ‘Shocking’ Economic Impacts Border Crisis Is Having on America During House Hearing

Tennessee U.S. Representative Mark Green (R-TN-07), who is chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, delivered opening remarks Wednesday during the committee’s hearing to “examine the financial cost of the historic national security and humanitarian crisis at the Southwest border for communities across the country.”

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