Thursday morning on the Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed Mayor-Elect Javier Villalobos of McAllen, Texas to the newsmakers line to talk about his background, baseball, border policy, and immigration.
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On a recent congressional trip to the Darién Gap in Panama, where tens of thousands of migrants begin their trek to the U.S. southern border, U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, R-Wis., noted something remarkable.
Western Union outlets were stationed near migrant camps on either side of the gap, making it easy for relatives of migrants who are already in the United States to wire funds. Security officials say some of those funds are then used to pay off smugglers and members of cartels at various points along the migrants’ trip to America.
Tiffany said he fears the COVID-19 stimulus payments approved by Congress may be driving some of the flow of money.
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The Biden administration plans to close two Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention centers after allegations of medical and physical abuse against detainees, CNN reported Thursday.
A doctor allegedly performed unauthorized hysterectomies and neglected other detainees at the privately operated Irwin County Detention Center in Ocilla, Georgia, while it is alleged that officials exercised excessive use of force against peaceful detainees at the C. Carlos Carreiro Immigration Detention Center in Bristol County, Massachusetts, both facilities are expected to close, according to CNN.
“We have an obligation to make lasting improvements to our civil immigration detention system,” Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement, CNN reported. “This marks an important first step to realizing that goal.”
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The Biden administration redirected over $2 billion allocated for other health initiatives to care for unaccompanied migrant minors, Politico reported Saturday.
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will receive $850 million meant for the federal emergency medical fund depleted by COVID-19 and another $850 million set aside for COVID-19 testing, according to three people familiar with the matter, Politico reported. HHS struggled to open and staff several emergency intake facilities to move over 20,000 migrant children out of border patrol facilities.
“They’ve been in a situation of needing to very rapidly expand capacity, and emergency capacity is much more expensive,” Mark Greenberg, Migration Policy Institute senior fellow and former leader of the Obama administration’s HHS administration for children and families, told Politico. “You can’t just say there’s going to be a waiting list or we’re going to shut off intake. There’s literally not a choice.”
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U.S. Customs and Border Protection this week announced that it had discovered and seized tens of thousands of counterfeit Apple Airpods, a bust the agency said was likely worth around $7 million.
CBP officials earlier this month “inspected three large shipments from China and found what appeared to be tens of thousands of earbuds in violation of Apple’s protected configurations,” the agency said in a press release.
“Each shipment contained 12,000 fake AirPods, for a total of 36,000,” the press release stated. “Although each package had a declared value of $5,280, the Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price for all the AirPods would have been $7.16 million had they been genuine.” The bogus products were bound for a Kentucky address.
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Biden administration officials are investigating reports of unaccompanied migrant minors spending nights on buses outside a federal holding facility in Dallas, Texas, NBC News reported Thursday.
Migrant children are sleeping, eating and using the restroom on buses outside the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center, sometimes for days, according to NBC News.
“This is completely unacceptable,” Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra said, NBC News reported. “We’re quickly investigating this to get to the bottom of what happened, and we’ll work to make sure this never happens again. The safety and well-being of the children is our priority.”
A 15-year-old migrant, Joel, made the journey from Honduras to reunite with his mother and was left on a bus from Saturday until the bus departed on its way to Seattle, Washington, on Wednesday, NBC News reported. His mother, Doris, said an HHS employee told them Joel would arrive Monday despite the bus remaining in Dallas.
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I recently traveled to the southern border with colleagues from both sides of the aisle to see the unfolding crisis firsthand and come up with solutions. The surge and resulting chaos is well documented.
Customs and Border Protection reported more than 172,000 total encounters at the border in March, up 70% from February and more than five times the March 2020 numbers. This includes more than 53,000 migrant family members, a more than 1,000% increase from March 2020; nearly 100,000 single adult migrants, an increase of 275% versus last year; and nearly 19,000 unaccompanied children, double the amount that crossed our border in February and a nearly 500% increase from March 2020.
The reason for the crisis is clear. The Biden administration’s policy changes encouraged families and unaccompanied children, mostly from the Northern Triangle countries of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, to come to our southern border and apply for asylum. Traffickers are telling families they can come into the U.S. if they pay to make the treacherous trip north, then apply for asylum at the border. Under the Biden policies, there is a lot of truth to that.
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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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Around 1,000 illegal migrants are entering the interior of the U.S. daily without overwhelmed border officials able to gather identifying information or take them into custody, The Washington Post reported Friday.
Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) officials are occupied processing unaccompanied migrant minors and family units while attempting to control the number of male adults who enter the U.S., leading to some illegal migrants entering the U.S. unknowingly, according to three CBP officials who asked for anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the matter, the Post reported. The number of migrants who are able to evade officials, known as “got aways,” has increased substantially in recent weeks, two of the officials told the Post.
A “got away” is someone who crosses the border illegally, is not apprehended and has not been turned back, according to CBP. The agency spent over $1 billion in the last 20 years on surveillance technology to monitor for illegal crossings, though officials haven’t always able to apprehend illegal migrants.
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Customs and Border Protection has held at least 800 unaccompanied migrant minors in custody for over 10 days, Axios reported
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) can legally hold unaccompanied minors for 72 hours, though over 3,300 were in custody over the limit as of Saturday, according to an internal Department of Homeland Security document obtained by Axios. Over 2,200 unaccompanied minors were held for more than five days and around 820 were in custody for over 10 days.
The number of unaccompanied minors in CBP custody for over 10 days has quadrupled in the last week, Axios reported. Only around 180 unaccompanied minors were in CBP custody for over 10 days as of last Monday.
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The number of child migrants crossing the United States’ southern border is quickly exceeding the federal government’s ability to hold them, internal documents from the Department of Health and Human Services show.
In the final week of February, Border Patrol referred an average of 321 children a day to HHS custody, according to Axios, which first reported the documents’ findings. Child migrant crossings averaged 203 per day in late January, and just 47 a day during the first week of 2021.
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Since January 25, 108 illegal immigrants released into Texas by Border Patrol have reportedly tested positive for Covid-19. According to a spokesperson for Brownsville, a town on the Texas border, that number represents 6.3 percent of those who have taken the test. The migrants are tested at the city’s main bus station, where they are being released by the Border Patrol.
According to NBC News, several of the illegal immigrants “plan to travel to dozens of cities throughout the country” despite testing positive for the coronavirus.
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More than 700 migrant children are currently detained in Customs and Border Patrol facilities, according to an internal government report.
At least 200 children had been held in the facilities for over 48 hours and nine had been held more than 72 hours, according to an internal Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) report dated Feb. 21, Axios reported. The CBP is not allowed to hold children more than 72 hours, according to a previous agreement.
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Around $14.3 million worth of narcotics and several weapons have been seized since the start of February at an Arizona port where officials also arrested a man wanted for murder, Customs and Border Protection announced Tuesday.
Officials seized 440 pounds of methamphetamine, 385,000 tablets of fentanyl, 84 pounds of heroin and almost 13 pounds of cocaine in around 25 instances since Feb. 1, according to Customs and Border Protection (CBP). A 28-year-old man wanted for murder in Las Vegas was arrested while in possession of an AR-15 assault rifle, a handgun and over 300 rounds of ammunition.
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U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials and local law enforcement in Texas arrested 294 suspected illegal immigrants within 18 hours, the Department of Homeland Security announced last week.
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents intercepted smuggling attempts and raided stash houses in four separate incidents in Laredo, Texas, on Oct. 13, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Of those detained, 90 were from countries other than Mexico.
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Nearly half as many individuals were apprehended at the southern border during fiscal year 2020 as in the previous year, Customs and Border Protection announced Wednesday.
A total of 400,651 migrants were apprehended between ports of entry at the southern border in fiscal year 2020, which ended with September, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced. In the fiscal year 2019, just over 851,500 individuals were apprehended.
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After violent antifa riots were allowed to rock downtown Portland, Oregon, for over a month, Border Patrol agents over the holiday weekend were finally deployed to restore order.
Acting Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Commissioner Mark Morgan expressed frustration over the situation on Fox News Sunday: “Where are the local political leaders?” he asked. “These are not protesters, these are criminals.”
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Roughly two weeks after Greyhound announced it would no longer allow Border Patrol agents to conduct immigration checks without a warrant, a previously deported illegal alien was found on one of its buses.
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The El Paso Border Patrol union is reportedly investigating the disappearance of roughly $500,000 from its coffers, with the U.S. Border Patrol union president telling local agents that the money was stolen.
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U.S. authorities have discovered the longest smuggling tunnel ever found on the U.S.-Mexico border, with the tunnel stretching nearly a mile between Tijuana, Mexico, and San Diego.
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One of the Mexican gunmen who killed a U.S. Border Patrol agent, consequently sparking the Obama administration’s “Fast and Furious” scandal, was sentenced to life in prison.
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Border Patrol agents, with the help of the local fire department, were able to rescue three migrants who climbed to the very top of newly-built border wall and ended up stuck.
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The Customs and Border Protection acting commissioner said Tuesday nearly 1 million “enforcement actions” took place on the southern border in fiscal year 2019.
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Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN-05) appeared on CBS’ “Face the Nation” Sunday where she said that she’s only controversial because “people seem to want the controversy.”
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Democratic Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib unpacked her anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) stance and said the U.S. was “fine” without ICE pre-9/11 during a podcast released Tuesday.
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by Shelby Talcott Sen. Kyrsten Sinema is aiming to implement a program at the U.S.-Mexico border that would speed up the removal of migrants without valid asylum claims. The Arizona Democrat joined eight other senators in signing a letter Wednesday to acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan, The Arizona…
Read More by Jason Hopkins Border Patrol officials relocated the majority of children held at a government facility following reports that more than 300 children being housed were subjected to unsanitary and “inhumane” conditions. Democratic Rep. Veronica Escobar of Texas said Monday that 30 children remained in the border facility near…
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by Fred Lucas The recent spike in illegal immigration from African countries underscores the increase in migrants coming from around the globe to sneak across the southern border—including more than 10,000 from Asia and almost 900 from Europe last year. In recent weeks, U.S. Customs and Border Protection apprehended…
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by Jason Hopkins Border Patrol is reporting “a dramatic rise” in the number of African migrants caught illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border in recent days. Border Patrol agents have apprehended over 500 individuals from the continent of Africa in the Del Rio Sector since May 30, according to Customs…
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by Jason Hopkins The sheer number of unaccompanied alien children (UACs) arriving at the U.S. southern border is bottlenecking law enforcement resources, reportedly forcing Border Patrol to keep migrant children longer than the legal requirement. Hundreds of the 2,000 or so UACs currently held in Border Patrol custody have…
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by Jason Hopkins The U.S. Border Patrol announced that it’s creating a new position specifically tailored to processing and caring for migrants that reach the southern border, allowing agents to refocus their work on enforcement. The “Border Patrol Processing Coordinator” will assume certain responsibilities that have consumed the agency’s…
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by Jason Hopkins A Border Patrol chief on Friday broke down how many times his agents have put their lives on the line to save illegal migrants attempting to cross the U.S.-Mexico border, an area laden with deadly deserts and river currents. “We have had 2,500 rescues this year,”…
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by Jason Hopkins Thousands of foreign nationals are waiting south of the U.S.-Mexico border to claim asylum. The backlog is a direct result of the Trump administration’s efforts to clamp down on burgeoning asylum claims. Approximately 13,000 people are on waiting lists to claim asylum in the U.S., an…
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A U.S. official on Wednesday said the nation would “lose control” of its border with Mexico unless a massive and protracted surge of undocumented immigrants and asylum-seekers, primarily from Central America, is contained and reversed. U.S. Border Patrol Chief Carla Provost issued the warning to a Senate panel while…
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by Jason Hopkins A directive from the White House is reportedly ordering asylum screeners to be more skeptical and confrontational with applicants, marking the administration’s latest attempt to weed out fraud. Asylum officers are to more aggressively pursue inconsistencies they see from applicants who claim they are facing persecution…
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by Nick Givas A U.S. Border Patrol official said his agency has apprehended more than 30,000 illegal immigrants on the southern border in the past 10 days. “This is a challenge unlike any we’ve ever faced before,” Chief of Law Enforcement Operations Brian Hastings said Monday on “Fox &…
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by Jason Hopkins Authorities found the body of a 10-month-old baby after a raft he was on capsized, spilling him and eight other migrants into the cold, dangerous waters of the Rio Grande river. At around 9:45 p.m. Wednesday night, Border Patrol agents working in the Eagle Pass Station…
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by Jason Hopkins Border Patrol agents nabbed 424 illegal aliens attempting to cross the border in a single group, marking the largest apprehension in the agency’s history. In the early hours of Tuesday morning, agents encountered a large group of “what seemed to be over 400 illegal aliens” near…
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by Jason Hopkins A Border Patrol agent said there are radio advertisements playing in Central America, encouraging locals to flee to the U.S. illegally to obtain the “American dream.” “The word is definitely out. They have advertisements by radio. You listen to your radio on your way to work…
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U.S. border authorities say they’ve started to increase the biometric data they take from children 13 years old and younger, including fingerprints, despite privacy concerns and government policy intended to restrict what can be collected from migrant youths. A Border Patrol official said this week that the agency had…
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Reuters The FBI on Saturday said it had arrested Larry Hopkins, a member of an armed group of U.S. citizens who have been stopping migrants illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border in New Mexico. Hopkins, 69, also known as Johnny Horton, was arrested in Sunland Park, N.M., on a federal…
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by Jason Hopkins Border Patrol agents, halfway through fiscal year 2019, have already apprehended more migrants nationwide than all of fiscal year 2018. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) announced that 418,000 nationwide apprehensions have occurred this fiscal year to date. A total of 404,142 nationwide apprehensions took place in…
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by Jason Hopkins Dramatic footage taken by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents reveals the extreme danger smugglers put families and young children through when illegally crossing the border. The recently released footage was taken on Dec. 18 and Dec. 22 within the Custom and Border Patrol’s (CBP) Yuma…
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by Jason Hopkins The U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) announced on Wednesday that it is reassigning more than 700 officers to assist the Border Patrol as it faces an “unprecedented” security crisis. CBP’s Office of Field Operations will temporarily reassign up to 750 of its officers to Border…
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U.S. President Donald Trump is renewing his threat to close the country’s southern border, saying Mexico and three Central American countries are not doing anything to halt the surge of undocumented migrants heading north to try to enter the United States. Trump first threatened to close the border last November…
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by Nick Givas Two wives of border patrol agents who rebuked House Speaker Nancy Pelosi appeared on “Fox & Friends” Monday to explain the letter they wrote to her. “I just felt that it was really important that our leaders come here and see what’s happening firsthand. It’s important…
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by Pedro Gonzales Anywhere from 11 million to 22 million illegal aliens reside in the United States today. The most recent research suggests that the higher number is closest to the correct figure. In and of itself, that is a crisis. New arrivals – legal and illegal – come to America…
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by Spencer P. Morrison Scott Adams, the creator of the popular cartoon “Dilbert,” transformed himself into a persona non grata in 2016 by exposing how Donald Trump manipulated the media by using sophisticated persuasion techniques. History proved Adams was correct and Trump won the election. As it turns out, Trump was not the…
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by CHQ Staff Ever since the Kavanaugh confirmation hearings Senator Lindsey Graham has been on a roll, and his appearance on CBS’ “Face the Nation” Sunday was a great example. Graham warned that the ongoing partial federal government shutdown over border wall funding cannot end as long as the…
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by George Rasley More than 5,000 phony asylum-seekers arrived from Central America and elsewhere in Tijuana, Mexico after having been transported from their home countries to the U.S. – Mexico border. Last Sunday, hundreds of them marched through Tijuana to assault the U.S. port of entry at San Ysidro.…
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