Arizona’s Republican Senate nominee Blake Masters asked incumbent Democrat Mark Kelly (D-AZ) Thursday to resign from his position so someone could fix the border.
“We have a wide-open border. So, if that is the best you can do, I respectfully request you resign, and let’s get someone in the seat who will actually secure our border,” Masters said at the 2022 Arizona Senate Debate.
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Arizona’s Republican gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake spoke to a passionate crowd on Wednesday at the Hispanic Townhall Election Event about issues that matter to the community.
“The Hispanic community is what makes Arizona great. They are the hardest working people. They love God. They love their family. They love their children. They want safe streets. They want to make sure that the drugs are not getting into the hands of our children,” Lake said to start the night.
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Arizona Republican Senate nominee Blake Masters has received an endorsement from a former opponent, Senate candidate, veteran, and businessman Jim Lamon.
“We need to elect a conservative Republican who will vote for American values, secure our border, lower inflation and combat crime – on November 8th, join me in voting for Blake Masters,” said Lamon. “I am supporting Blake because Joe Biden and Mark Kelly have been a disaster for America and our great state. We must stop their Marxist agenda and put America and Arizona first.”
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Yuma County District Two Supervisor Jonathan Lines spoke with Trump-endorsed Arizona Attorney General nominee Abe Hamadeh at the Yuma border Monday morning, saying that recent comments from Vice-President Kamala Harris about America having a secure border are not true.
“Absolutely and emphatically, there is no way that that is a true statement,” Lines said in reference to Harris’s comment.
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Arizona Democratic Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, who is running for governor, is pivoting her campaign ads to “clone herself as a ‘moderate,’” Arizona Republican Party Chair Jerimiah Cota contends. A new ad from Hobbs states that she will “keep our border secure,” but Cota said in a statement that “this is far from the truth.”
He said, “This statement is absurd implying that the border was secure to begin with. On top of that, Katie cannot expect the people of Arizona to forget her atrocious record when it comes to border security. … She has actively worked against securing Arizona’s border her entire career. We view Hobbs and her team’s attempt to trick an entire state into forgetting her anti-border security history as an insult to the intelligence of Arizonans.”
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After Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake and her Democrat opponent, Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, spent the week dueling over who will best secure Arizona’s southern border, the Republican National Committee (RNC) jumped into the battle to highlight Hobbs’s penchant for open borders.
“Democrats couldn’t help themselves nominating another open borders candidate for governor,” said RNC Spokesperson Ben Petersen. “Now Katie Hobbs is cratering with Arizona voters as they learn about her radical open borders record and defund the police ties.”
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A U.S. congressman from Arizona says Republicans plan to impeach President Joe Biden and other high-level officials following the midterm elections, when the Republican Party is expected to regain control of the House of Representatives.
“On Day One, my colleagues and I will be looking to impeach President Joe Biden, Department of Homeland Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, and Attorney General Merrick Garland,” said Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ-05) on Twitter. “All three are in dereliction of their duties. We have the resolutions ready to go.”
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Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb blasted a new border security campaign ad from Democrat gubernatorial candidate Katie Hobbs in a statement Tuesday, claiming Arizona can’t afford to have her as governor.
“Katie Hobbs has openly opposed filling the border wall gaps and supported ending Title 42, which makes our jobs harder and puts us in the line of fire,” Lamb said in a release from the Kari Lake Campaign. “We cannot afford a Governor who will do nothing to stop the unprecedented human trafficking and drug trafficking at our southern border.”
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Gubernatorial candidates Kari Lake, a Republican, and Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, are dueling over border security after Hobbs launched an ad claiming she will secure the border.
“Katie Hobbs will deliver whatever resources are needed to keep you safe, my team safe, our state safe. She’s not here to politicize the border. Katie Hobbs has a plan and solutions,” says Democrat Sheriff Chris Nanos of Pima County in the ad.
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Arizona Governor Doug Ducey (R) announced Wednesday that over 3,000 feet of previously open sections in Yuma’s border wall had been filled, celebrating that Arizona is doing what the federal government will not.
“Five wide open gaps in the border wall near Yuma neighborhoods and businesses are now closed off. In just 11 days, Arizona did the job the federal government has failed to do — and we showed them just how quickly and efficiently the border can be made more secure – if you want to,” said Ducey.
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The Republican National Committee opened a new Hispanic Community Center in Tucson, Arizona, and Republican Senate nominee Blake Masters, who appeared at the center’s opening, spoke with The Arizona Sun Times via the phone about the importance of connecting with the community.
“I think people are looking, now more than ever, for their elected officials and their servant leaders to be accessible and to have a place where you can learn more and talk to like-minded people in the community and talk about issues. I think the Republican Party’s doing great, you know, with initiatives like this, with this center and others to hopefully be permanent fixtures. I don’t want this to be something we pop up around election time and then go away,” Masters said.
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PHOENIX, Arizona – Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis spoke to a theater full of onlookers in downtown Phoenix Sunday at a Turning Point Action rally to support local Trump-endorsed nominees like Kari Lake and Blake Masters. Mentioning Florida would be willing to help Lake secure the border if she gets elected.
“What I’ve told Kari Lake, I said ‘look, if you’re willing to put people on that border, and keep ’em [illegal immigrants] from coming in to begin with, I’ll send National Guard to help with that,” said DeSantis.
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Arizona and Texas have bused over 6,100 illegal immigrants they apprehended crossing the border since May to Washington D.C.. The migrants volunteer for the trips, motivated partly by more generous laws towards the indigent in those cities.
NPR and other new outlets interviewed the migrants, confirming that they preferred to be bused out of Texas or Arizona. One reporter said, “Ronald told me that he felt welcomed in Washington in a way he just didn’t in Texas.” The city is finding resources to deal with the migrants. D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser secured a FEMA grant for an international nonprofit called SAMU to offer emergency services to migrants. The Catholic Charities umbrella organization is also assisting.
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The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced Thursday that Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas (D) gave U.S. Customs and Border Protection the authorization to execute the Yuma Morelos Dam Project and close four gaps along the border wall.
“These projects address operational impacts, as well as immediate life and safety risks, and will be funded with DHS’s Fiscal Year 2021 appropriations,” according to a DHS statement.
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The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced a new, two-count indictment against a Mexican man for smuggling methamphetamine into the United States from Mexico.
The individual was charged one count of Possession with Intent to Distribute Methamphetamine and one count of Importation of Methamphetamine into the United States from Mexico.
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Arizona Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake recently unveiled a new campaign ad showcasing her plans to combat the border crisis if elected governor.
“My border policy is the most aggressive effective border policy this country has ever seen,” Lake told the Arizona Sun Times via text. “A couple of the sheriffs in Texas are finally understanding it and pushing the remedy that is right there in the constitution. When the federal government fails us in their duty to protect us under article 4 section 4, we have the remedy in article 1 section 10 of the constitution to protect our own citizens and stop the invasion.”
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The Arizona US Attorney’s Office (USAO) recently revealed that 22 Arizonians have been indicted for drug-related charges following a multi-year investigation of a South Phoenix criminal street gang.
“According to the criminal complaints filed last week, in January 2020, the Arizona Department of Public Safety (“DPS”) began an investigation targeting a drug and firearms supplier in South Phoenix. In February 2021, in conjunction with the DPS investigation, the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (“FBI”) Violent Street Gang Task Force began investigating the Lindo Park Crips (“LPC”), a criminal street gang operating in South Phoenix,” according to a press release from the USAO.
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Thursday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Leahy welcomed Tennessee Congressman Chuck Fleishmann (R-TN-03) to the newsmaker line to comment upon the recent deaths of 51 migrants in an abandoned trailer near the southern border and what he plans to do about securing it.
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Arizona Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ-05) sent a letter to the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, demanding a briefing on the investigation into Del Rio, Texas, border patrol agents amidst reports that these agents will be disciplined.
The letter requests that Mayorkas provide a briefing by June 24, 2022. Biggs’s spokesman told the Arizona Sun Times that the DHS has not responded to Biggs’s letter yet.
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In an exclusive release first obtained by The Tennessee Star, former Speaker of the Tennessee House of Representatives Beth Harwell unveiled her first television ad for the August 4 Republican primary in the race for Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District seat.
In the ad, Harwell calls on Congress to finish President Trump’s wall, fight for tougher penalties on criminals and ban sanctuary cities.
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Former Vice President Mike Pence traveled to Arizona on Monday to highlight the ongoing border crisis and the neglect of the Biden administration.
During the visit, Pence met with law enforcement officials who are on the frontline of the crisis, receiving a briefing on the matter.
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In an exclusive document provided to The Tennessee Star, TN-5 candidate and former Speaker of the Tennessee House of Representatives Beth Harwell announced that she visited the U.S. southern border in May and released her border security plan.
Harwell’s campaign confirmed that she visited the U.S. southern border on May 26, likely making her the first TN-5 candidate to make that trip.
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SCOTTSDALE, Arizona – Kari Lake, the Trump-endorsed Republican candidate for Arizona governor, sat down for a Saturday interview with #WalkAway Campaign PAC (WACPAC) founder Brandon Straka about how she will handle important policies if elected. It was the first-ever such event.
“It’s like we’ve [America has] got wounds and we’re bleeding; we’ve got to stop the bleeding. But the thing that caused the wounds and the bleeding is a stolen election,” Lake said when asked by Straka about election integrity. “Let me tell you, none of these people I’m running against on the Republican ticket even wanted to touch that. It’s the third rail. And I even had people in politics say, ‘Don’t mention the 2020 election.’ I said, ‘Are you kidding me?’ I went out, I touched that rail, and I have not stopped talking about it because that’s the reason we have the problems we have.”
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A large majority of Americans now have no confidence in Joe Biden and his administration, which often polls below 40 percent, with negatives nearing 60 percent.
Despite the 15-month catastrophe of his regime, the level of his own unpopularity remains understandable but still remarkable. After all, in 2020 voters already knew well of his cognitive deficits and the radicalism of his agenda. They saw both clearly starting in 2019 and during the 2020 Democratic primaries, the primary debates, and the general election.
So what did Biden’s voters imagine would happen when a cognitively challenged president, controlled by hard-Left subordinates, entered office — other than what he has done?
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The grassroots patriotic group America Pack put on a debate for the Republican primary candidates for Arizona Attorney General Friday night, and of the five candidates who participated, none of them came across as moderates, to the pleasant surprise of the audience (Dawn Grove, who sounds very conservative, could not participate). The main issue championed by the five was border security, with election integrity a close second.
Their agendas mainly mirrored that of current AG Mark Brnovich, who is now running for U.S. Senate. Brnovich has been one of the most proactive AGs in the country pushing back on the Biden administration, filing tens of lawsuits over election integrity, border security, and other areas of overreach or inaction. Endorsed by both Mark Levin and Sean Hannity, the candidates sounded like they were trying to out-conservative him.
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Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake told The Georgia Star News she plans to secure the southern border of the United States with her “Defend Arizona” policy, which includes the destruction of drug tunnels and surveillance drones used by Mexican drug cartels. The Republican frontrunner traveled to Georgia on Thursday to support David Perdue in his bid to upset incumbent governor Brian Kemp.
“When we discover drug tunnels, we’re going to blow them up. We’re not just going to pour a little bit of cement in where they can easily jackhammer that out and start running drugs again,” Lake said.
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Florida Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz blasted Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas at a recent House Judiciary Committee hearing on border security.
In his line of questioning, Gaetz asked Mayorkas about the removal process of 1.2 million people who are in the U.S. illegally who’ve been given deportation orders by judges and haven’t been removed.
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Arizona Governor Doug Ducey on Thursday signed legislation aimed at tackling human smuggling groups.
The bill, House Bill 2696, clarifies language to detail that “an individual who aids illegal human smuggling organizations or operations will be held accountable for their crime.”
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Democrat gubernatorial hopeful Katie Hobbs is, again, facing intense blowback during her campaign, as she seemingly flip-flopped her position on Title 42.
Title 42 is a public health order from the Trump administration that allowed border officials to turn away individuals due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. President Joe Biden’s administration is seeking to end the policy.
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Monday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Leahy welcomed the original all-star panelist Crom Carmichael in studio for another edition of Crom’s Crommentary.
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NASHVILLE, Tennessee- U.S. Senator Bill Hagerty spoke about border security with The Tennessee Star in an exclusive one-on-one interview after a Wednesday afternoon joint press event held with Governor Bill Lee outside his Nashville district office.
Hagerty addressed the Biden administration’s gutting of Title 42 and his desire to see it expanded, not ended. He also addressed the migrant protection protocols which were put in place under the Trump administration. Hagerty believes they should be codified, whereas the Biden administration has destroyed them.
Since President Biden has taken office, Arizona has been at the frontline of a savage battle currently underway on America’s southern border. This battle is being waged against a constant wave of undocumented illegal immigrants and deadly drugs that are entering our country with very little oversight or repercussions.
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Connecticut Attorney General William Tong (D) joined 17other state attorneys general in signing onto an amicus brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to end the federal “remain in Mexico” immigration policy.
Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul (D) has spearheaded the effort among liberal state prosecutors to persuade the high court to reverse the Trump-era policy, also known as the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP). The policy stipulates that asylum seekers generally must await their U.S. asylum hearings in Mexico. The Biden White House has criticized the protocols but the courts have prevented him from reversing it.
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Arrests at the U.S./Mexican border reached a new high last year, driven by a surge in attempted crossings into the United States in the first year of the Biden administration.
Border agents recorded just under 2 million arrests in 2021, data released from a lawsuit against the Biden administration showed this week.
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Rep. Lance Gooden, a Texas Republican whose district has been overrun by the surge in illegal immigration, says the border insecurity that Joe Biden unleashed isn’t just impacting border states. It’s spreading to the interior of the country, and with it the temptation to impeach the president if Republicans gain control of Congress next year.
“I really believe that impeachment could be on the table,” Gooden told Just the News in a recent interview. “And I would support that, certainly.”
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On Tuesday, Tennessee Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN) applauded efforts by Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei to increase prison sentences for “coyote” human smugglers.
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The Biden administration is returning migrants in small numbers to Mexico as it rolls out the resumption of the Trump-era “Remain in Mexico” policy, also known as the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), it fought for months to end.
The policy requires border officials to return asylum seekers to stay in Mexico while waiting for immigration court hearings.
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More than 50,000 illegal immigrants released into the U.S. by Immigration and Customs Enforcement failed to report to their deportation proceedings during a five-month period analyzed last year, according to a report provided by the Department of Homeland Security to U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisconsin. The report also states that ICE doesn’t have court information on more than 40,000 individuals it’s supposed to prosecute.
“Between March and August 2021, as a result of the Biden Administration’s failed border policies, over 270,000 illegal aliens have been dispersed into the United States with little chance for removal,” Johnson said in an announcement accompanying the report, which didn’t include data from the other seven months of the year.
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Arizona Governor Doug Ducey on Tuesday met will eleven different sheriffs from across the state to discuss efforts to secure the U.S. southern border.
Ducey and the law enforcement urged action from the state’s Democratic Senators Kyrsten Sinema and Mark Kelly.
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U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers apprehended more people in November than October and confiscated a record amount of drugs last month, according to its latest operational report.
In November at the southern border, encounters with unaccompanied minors increased by 9% from October, with family units by 5%, and with single adults also by 5%.
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An additional $38.4 million of Texas taxpayer money has been allocated to fund border security efforts at the Texas-Mexico border. It’s money Texas shouldn’t have to spend, Gov. Greg Abbott said, but is because of President Joe Biden’s open border policies that have ushered into the state rampant trafficking of drugs, people and crime.
The money will provide additional funding for Operation Lone Star, which Abbott launched in March and go towards law enforcement, jail operations, and court administration costs. It brings the total PSO funding for Operation Lone Star to $74 million to date designed to assist border cities and counties.
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Authorities in Arizona seized $9 million worth of fentanyl pills in the state’s largest bust of the illicit drug – enough, they said, to kill half the population of Arizona.
The bust comes after a nonprofit group cites fentanyl as the leading cause of death among Americans between the age of 18 and 45. Arizona and Texas attorneys general and governors vowed to fight what they called the “lawlessness of the Biden administration,” which they argue is enabling fentanyl to be brought into the U.S. through its open border policies.
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RIO GRANDE VALLEY — The alarm clock sounded at 3 a.m. local time. It was dark and the skies were clear from the storm that had just passed. Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) Lt. Craig Cummings, who was driving me around the valley, joked that we may face a more dangerous situation than the border had in store for us because of the tornado-like winds and torrential downpour that had swept through the area just hours before.
We decided the early morning would be the best time to capture suspected human smuggling attempts. Texas troopers with DPS supporting Operation Lone Star, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott’s initiative to combat nefarious activity from entering his state, dotted the roads making their presence known.
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An agent with the Tucson Sector U.S. Border Patrol, Anibal A. Perez, died in the line of duty, the group announced on Thursday.
The officer, who passed away earlier this month, had served the organization since 2006.
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U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials announced a plan to send court documents to 78,000 illegal migrants who were released into the U.S. after crossing the southern border this year, CBS News reported on Tuesday.
The documents describe court hearings where migrants can make their cases to stay in the country to an immigration judge, according to CBS News. The documents will include notices to appear and other information typically issued during regular processing.
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Arizona Governor Doug Ducey on Thursday toured the U.S. Border Patrol’s Tucson Sector Headquarters, praising the employees for their work.
States along the U.S. Southern border have witnessed a dramatic increase in the number of migrants entering the country illegally.
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Arizona Rep. Jake Hoffman (R-Queen Creek) sent a letter to Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich requesting a legal opinion on whether the Biden administration has failed its obligations at the U.S. border with Mexico. He is concerned there is an “invasion” taking place due to the vast numbers of illegal immigrants entering the country, the increase in crime, and the control the drug cartels have over areas along the border.
He wrote, “In light of the efforts by the new federal administration of President Joe Biden to encourage, rather than discourage, illegal aliens coming to our country, including by crossing the Arizona border illegally, I am writing to ask for your formal legal opinion of whether or not the federal government has failed — intentionally or unintentionally — to uphold its obligations to protect our state from invasion under Article IV, Section 4 of the U.S. Constitution.”
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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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During a Senate hearing Tuesday, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas claimed the Biden Administration’s border policies are “working,” and have led to a drop of encounters at the U.S.-Mexico border.
Mayorkas was responding to Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), who was grilling the DHS chief about the ongoing surge of illegal immigrants at the border during a Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing on “Threats to the Homeland.”
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Monday morning on the Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed National Border Patrol Council President Brandon Judd to the newsmakers line to discuss the current surge, agent morale, and the need for the public to express their outrage to make a change.
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