Tens of thousands of people who successfully enrolled in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program carried prior arrest records, according to data the Trump administration released Saturday.
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U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) joined Fox Business’ Mornings with Maria to discuss her legislation to require a DNA test to substantiate the familial relationship between an alien and an accompanying minor.
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As Congress persists in serially ignoring anything having to do with the border crisis, the Trump Administration continues to release regulations aimed at fixing the problem of illegal immigration.
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Monthly migrant apprehensions in Mexico have begun to slow down, indicating that the government’s recent border crackdown is yielding results.
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We Build the Wall sponsored a symposium Saturday to discuss border security issues and a “can-do attitude” that led to its construction of one segment of border wall.
The event was titled “Symposium at the Wall: Cartels, Trafficking, and Asylum.” The location was Sunland Park, New Mexico, near El Paso, Texas, where the organization built its first section of wall.
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by Kevin Daley Environmental groups and House Democrats urged the Supreme Court not to disturb a lower court order blocking the reallocation of military funds for border wall projects. The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to put that ruling on hold while litigation continues July 12. Granting that request — called a stay — would give the government an irreversible victory, a coalition of environmentalists led by the Sierra Club warned. “If a stay is granted and wall construction begins, there will be no turning back,” the green groups told the justices in court papers. U.S. District Judge Haywood Gilliam barred the administration from using $2.5 billion in military funds for border wall construction. The trial court’s injunctions stalled border barrier construction projects in Arizona and New Mexico. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied the administration’s request to stay Gilliam’s ruling while litigation continued by a 2-1 vote July 3. The government filed a stay application with the Supreme Court on July 12. Environmentalists fear ‘irrevocable victory’ Stays are supposed to preserve the status quo among litigants while a lawsuit proceeds through court. If the justices grant the administration’s request, the government can begin construction on several border wall projects the courts…
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by Rachel Bovard Illegal immigration numbers remain at levels triple that of previous years, and Congress continues to bicker, foot stomp, other otherwise ignore the problem. In the face of this, the Trump Administration released its latest attempt to bring the border crisis under control. Under new rules issued last week, migrants will now be required to seek asylum in at least one country they pass through on their way north. In other words, to qualify for asylum in the United States, Hondurans and Salvadorans would first have to apply for – and be denied – asylum in Guatemala or Mexico. The response from critics was predictable. “These new regulations are illegal and flout our asylum laws,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) tweeted on Tuesday. In a press release, the ACLU stated that the “Trump Administration is trying to unilaterally reverse our country’s legal and moral commitment to protect those fleeing danger,” right after they vowed to file a lawsuit to fight the change. U.S. Representative Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) and the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, described the regulations as “xenophobic and racist.” None of them, however, acknowledged a key feature of the new rules: they put the United States in compliance with exactly the way…
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U.S. Rep. Dr. Mark Green (R-TN-07) announced he introduced legislation Thursday that would replace the Presidential Election Campaign Fund checkbox on the IRS 1040 with a Border Wall Trust Fund checkbox to allow taxpayers to designate their tax money toward building a southern border wall. “Taxpayer dollars should never be used to advance political campaigns,” Green said in a press release. “But, keeping Americans safe must be our #1 priority. My bill will give every American the opportunity to directly help President Trump build the wall.” Green tweeted, “Americans spoke loud and clear in 2016 that we want a wall to secure our southern border. Congress has clearly been unable to get the job done. My new bill will give every American the opportunity to directly help @realDonaldTrump #BuildTheWall.” Americans spoke loud and clear in 2016 that we want a wall to secure our southern border. Congress has clearly been unable to get the job done. My new bill will give every American the opportunity to directly help @realDonaldTrump #BuildTheWall. https://t.co/UYCbynv1AT — Rep. Mark Green (@RepMarkGreen) July 11, 2019 The current IRS 1040 form allows taxpayers to check a box to direct $3 (or $6 for married filing jointly)…
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by Jason Hopkins The acting director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) said the government is “ready” to identify, detain, and deport the illegal immigrants who have ignored court orders to leave the country. “They’re ready to just perform their mission, which is to go and find and detain and then deport the approximately one million people who have final removal orders,” Ken Cuccinelli said Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” Cuccinelli was referring to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), an agency with the Department of Homeland Security that’s tasked with locating and deporting aliens living in the U.S. illegally. “Who among those will be targeted for this particular effort, or not, is really just information kept within ICE at this point,” the acting USCIS director explained. Cuccinelli’s comments come after President Donald Trump announced — and then later scrapped — plans in June to conduct sweeping ICE raids across the country. The raids would’ve targeted major U.S. cities and roughly 2,000 undocumented immigrants who are disobeying deportation orders. Trump, at the time, said the raids were postponed in order to work with Democrats on a solution to the immigration crisis, but other accusations make it unclear why exactly the raids were…
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by Rachael Bovard The woke social media over the Fourth of July was something to behold. On America’s birthday, posts were full Trump-baby angst, references to illegal militias, treasonous criminality, and concentration camps, and carefully styled photos of summer desserts that spelled out “close the camps” on top of seasonal fruit. Because you know what you do if you think child migrants are actually being tortured by your government and dying in concentration camps? You channel all your first-world, virtue signaling rage into the creation of artsy and seasonally appropriate desserts that are just perfect for that People photoshoot. But the misplaced rage was not limited to social media. In the annals of Wokes versus People Living in Reality, this week was one for the books. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), the avatar of lefty rage-emotes everywhere, visited the border and had a complete meltdown. Ocasio-Cortez told reporters she “was not safe from the officers,” and that migrants were forced to drink out of toilets while being subject to “psychological warfare.” “This has been horrifying so far,” she tweeted. “It is hard to understate the enormity of the problem. We’re talking systemic cruelty w/ a dehumanizing culture that treats them like animals.” If what she’s saying is true – members of Congress…
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U.S. Rep. Dr. Mark Green (R-TN-07) on Monday called for a “permanent solution to the border crisis.” Green, a member of the House Homeland Security Committee, made his statement in regard to both the Senate and House, which reportedly are working on bills simultaneously to bring humanitarian relief to the ongoing border crisis. According to both a press release and a tweet, Green said, “Whatever Congress passes must include a permanent solution to the border crisis. We must fix our legal loopholes. Via the president’s emergency declaration, we are getting the physical wall built. But we need to build a legal wall by fixing the loopholes.” Whatever Congress passes must include a permanent solution to the border crisis. We must fix our legal loopholes. Via the president's emergency declaration, we are getting the physical wall built. But we need to build a legal wall by fixing the loopholes. https://t.co/bPr4wduKTC — Rep. Mark Green (@RepMarkGreen) June 24, 2019 The report that Green referenced was from The Hill, which said President Donald Trump’s $4.5 billion border spending request is facing obstacles in differences between the Senate and House versions. The bills are similar on the amount of funding but differ on…
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by Jason Hopkins Arkansas Republican Sen. Tom Cotton had a response of his own after Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer accused the president of threatening to “tear families apart” with his upcoming illegal immigration raids. “When things aren’t going well, [President Donald Trump] plays to his base. Instead of putting forth solutions to fix our broken immigration system, instead of pursuing criminals, he threatens to tear families apart,” Schumer tweeted Friday. “This isn’t leadership. This is inhumane & unwise.” When things aren’t going well, @realDonaldTrump plays to his base Instead of putting forth solutions to fix our broken immigration system, instead of pursuing criminals, he threatens to tear families apart This isn’t leadershipThis is inhumane & unwisehttps://t.co/WZgtUsF6Ub — Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) June 22, 2019 The New York Democrat’s tweet linked to an article about Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) plan to apprehend over 2,000 illegal aliens across the country Sunday, the first day of the Trump administration’s directive to execute mass deportations of foreign national living in the country illegally. Cotton responded to Schumer, pointing out a detail the minority leader left out about the upcoming raids. “[Schumer] conveniently omits that these illegal aliens’ cases have been heard & rejected, hence they’re under valid…
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by Jason Hopkins President Donald Trump’s pick for “immigration czar” wrote an op-ed that rips apart the arguments immigrant-rights groups use to defend sanctuary city policies. Tom Homan – a former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) under the Trump administration, and the president’s pick to for immigration czar – published an op-ed Monday that shoots down many of the justifications for sanctuary laws. Homan criticized the idea that sanctuary cities protect the immigrant community, and illegal aliens who are witnesses to heinous crimes. “[T]hese jurisdictions are un-American, undermine public safety, put the public in harm’s way and make life harder and more dangerous for law enforcement,” the former ICE chief wrote. Pro-sanctuary advocates argue that it is detrimental to the legal process to allow ICE agents to apprehend suspected illegal migrants in court buildings, claiming that such a tactic makes victims or witnesses to a crime scared to come forward. Homan counters that ICE is “not interested” in identifying such people. He pointed out that if an illegal migrant does become a witness or victim of a crime, U.S. law allows them to apply for a special visa to stay in the country, known as a U-Visa. Homan also shot down the claim…
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We Build the Wall founder Brian Kolfage is pulling out all the stops in reporting on the flood of illegal aliens pouring through the southern border, including providing shocking video and photos of armed alleged cartel members. Kolfage on Sunday tweeted a link to a story by KTSM showing an alleged armed cartel member leading immigrants across the border two miles from the wall he built. He said, “Hats off to our videographer our Phil, he sits out in the desert in a ghillie suit all day getting our incredible video! We’ll keep exposing the crisis until it’s resolved. We have many more breaking videos to release and won’t stop!” https://twitter.com/BrianKolfage/status/1138136267496054784 The KTSM story is available here. We Build the Wall finished the first half-mile section of the border wall in Sunland Park, New Mexico on June 2, Battleground State News reported. The organization has published a map showing where its wall closes off an easy route in Sunland Park. The video was reportedly captured to the west of the mountains (see the red arrow). Kolfage on Sunday tweeted another video of a man he claims was a cartel member crossing a border barrier. He said, “Another video…
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U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) is gaining attention for her strong stands on border security and “big tech.” On Saturday, she joined Fox News’ Neil Cavuto on “Cavuto Live” to discuss her trip to the border in El Paso, Texas, Friday to meet with Customs and Border Patrol officials. Blackburn also discussed how Congress should assess the size of big tech companies. ‘Big tech’ Cavuto called it “an odd confluence of events” to have many Republicans and Democrats agreeing on a subject — the need to watch “big tech.” Regarding “big tech,” Blackburn, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said “They are big ad companies. They have pretty much built monopolies in their space and it is time to review their practices and see how much we know about what they are doing with, as I call it, your Virtual You – you and your presence online.” Congress needs to “do a deep dive” and examine the companies’ business practices before making any sort of recommendations to the Department of Justice, Blackburn said. In April, Blackburn said tech companies should embrace “the spirit of the First Amendment,” The Tennessee Star reported. She called out media giants to…
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The American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico is trying to claim that the construction of the private border wall blocks access to a “historical monument.” The ACLU of New Mexico says the Sunland Park, New Mexico private wall blocks access to Monument One, a border monument dating to 1855 that’s on the National Register of Historic Places, according to a story by KOAT. The ACLU is calling on the International Boundary and Water Commission, who manages the monument’s land, to intervene. The border wall is on private land, but it was built across from Monument One, which is on federal land but accessed from a road and a gate. The commission told KOAT that it has not given We Build the Wall a permit but their application is being reviewed. However, Brian Kolfage, founder of We Build the Wall, says the ACLU is lying and that it is trying to help the drug cartels that are being blocked by the new wall. Kolfage tweeted, “The ACLU is acting like this alleged monument is Yellowstone Natl. Park. The only people coming here are drug smugglers, it’s a dangerous area. Stop LYING TO Americans @ACLU it’s on private property too! Here’s…
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Construction has resumed on the three-quarters of a mile private border wall in Sunland Park, New Mexico, according to KOB. Sunland Park Mayor Javier Perea backtracked on Thursday on his claim the wall violated city law and that it was too high. “Upon further investigation, we have determined this is under and M-2, which is industrial zoning and does allow up to 35 feet, as we understand at this moment,” Perea said of the 18-foot-high fence. Construction is expected to be completed in the next several weeks. The city claimed We Build the Wall did not have a building permit and denied city officials access to the site. We Build the Wall strongly denied both charges, Battleground State News said. The wall is being built on private land owned by American Eagle Brick Company. Perea said he and his family received death threats, KVIA said. He also confirmed work on the border barrier has resumed even though City officials “issued permits in error” prematurely for the lights and fence. We Build the Wall founder Brian Kolfage said it has 10 more projects ready but would not provide details about locations, KFOX 14 said. Kris Kobach, the legal counsel, said the…
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The group We Build the Wall announced Monday it has completed construction of a large section of wall spanning between a half-mile and a mile along an open area of the Southern border previously believed to be unbuildable. According to a story by The Washington Times, the wall section is along the southern border in New Mexico, and the organization says that is a first in the history of the border. The wall is made of 18-foot steel bollard like what the Border Patrol uses, the Times said. Just late last week, a federal judge ordered a halt to part of President Donald Trump’s emergency declaration and shifting of money within the Pentagon to make up for Congress’s refusal to fund the wall, the Times said. The new section closes a gap that was between the end of the El Paso, Texas border wall and Mount Cristo Rey, across from the City of Juarez, The Gateway Pundit said. Kris Kobach (pictured with builder Tommy Fisher, right) of We Build the Wall spoke to the Pundit about the former gap. “The gap is a half mile wide corridor and it’s literally a parking lot on the Mexican side and then you…
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by Rachel Bovard President Trump on Thursday rolled out his administration’s first, substantive take on immigration reform, and the reactions have been what you’d expect. Democrats and some Republicans immediately panned the proposal because it doesn’t provide amnesty to recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (otherwise known as President Obama’s illegal executive amnesty), or to anyone else. Republicans, in general, were more circumspect. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) gave a noncommittal response, with a nod toward the dispute he is currently embroiled in with Democrats, who continue to block the administration’s request for more humanitarian funding at the border. (Yes, the same party who lambasts the president for his supposed lack of humanitarian care for migrants also refuses to give him funding to do exactly that.) But a review of the plan itself, which deals largely with the legal immigration system, suggests that it fills a critical role for Republicans. For years, the GOP has run on “border security first,” and then a “merit-based” immigration with very little agreement on the specifics of what those terms mean. Past Republican proposals, rather, have come in the form of massive, multifaceted plans which die horrible public deaths due to their frontward concessions on amnesty. (Recall the doomed…
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by Andrew Kerr Tens of thousands of apprehended migrants from the Central American countries driving the border crisis exploit loopholes in the immigration system by making false asylum claims, according to data, experts and surveys. The loopholes allow “people with suspect asylum claims … to make their way into the interior of the United States and disappear,” one expert told The Daily Caller News Foundation. Data shows only about half of the migrants from those countries who claim asylum actually file a formal application after being let into the U.S. Asylum is a status reserved for individuals who face persecution in their homeland, but less than 4% of migrants from the Northern Triangle countries of Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras exclusively said they were fleeing violence, while 72% cited economic conditions as their sole reason for leaving, according to a 2017 survey of deported migrants by the Migration in the Southern Border of Mexico (EMIF). Just 10% cited both violence and economic conditions as motivating factors. “The vast majority of current Central American asylum seekers — by their own admission — are economic migrants who do not qualify for asylum, because they are not subject to persecution on the basis of…
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by Jason Hopkins Thousands of Central American migrants have been sent back to Mexico after lodging an asylum claim, a result of President Donald Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” directive. Over 5,000 asylum seekers from Central America’s Northern Triangle region — El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala — have been sent back to Mexico as they wait for their claims to go through the U.S. immigration court system, according to a Mexican government official who spoke to CBS. The number, if accurate, would indicate a sharp rise of the 3,700 asylum seekers the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) claimed were booted earlier in May. DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Daily Caller News Foundation. “It has many implications,” the Mexican official stated to CBS, speaking about “Remain in Mexico,” which is also known referred to as the “Migrant Protection Protocols” program. “However, with the new immigration policy, all the tools we have to apply to safeguard the physical and moral integrity of foreigners must be applied, regardless of condition or nationality.” The program, which began in late 2018, prohibits non-Mexican immigrants from immediately entering the U.S. interior after claiming asylum at the southern border. Instead, the directive requires them to wait in…
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U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) on Thursday spoke on the Senate floor about the ongoing crisis at America’s Southern border with Mexico. Blackburn said the border is facing a “real humanitarian crisis” while ICE is challenged on making deportations. Her remarks to the Senate follow: Our border is strained to the breaking point. There is a real humanitarian crisis escalating, with people being stranded in the desert without food or water, at 100 degree weather in summer. At the same time, ICE faces mounting challenges on expediting deportations. Abuse and exploitation of the asylum process overburdens our court system, as migrants flood our borders claiming persecution. Our country historically welcomes people fleeing political persecution, but there must be tighter rules on asylum seekers. I welcome President Trump’s moves to raise the standards. Last week the President directed the Department of Homeland Security to enact several new asylum changes. As part of these new policies, the President imposed a new deadline for the immigration courts to meet. He directed that cases in immigration courts be settled within 180 days. Tennesseans want to see government accountability, and a six month deadline is exactly the accountability the government needs. Right now there…
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by Rachael Bovard The evidence that Democrats are now an unapologetically open borders party is piling up, and Republicans need to start calling them on it. From opposing expanded detention facilities, actively blocking legislation to fix family separation policies, and even voting against legislation that would prohibit illegal immigrants from voting, it’s becoming abundantly clear what Democrats want out of U.S. immigration policy: open borders, new voters, and a system that never actually gets fixed, so they can use it as a cudgel against Republicans. Consider that just days after the family separation policy erupted, Republicans brought bills to the floor to fix the 1997 Flores settlement—the governing legal agreement which doesn’t allow children to be detained longer than 20 days. In practice, this means that individuals or families who show up with a minor are either separated from that minor and detained for processing, or the entire family unit is simply released into the interior of the country while awaiting a court date. Republicans brought legislation to the floor of the Senate which would vitiate the Flores settlement and allow family units here illegally to be detained and processed together. But Democrats, after howling about the cruelty of…
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by Brad Sylvester A meme posted by the Facebook page Sick of the Slant claimed to portray what “actually happened” when two Americans were detained by Mexican soldiers at the southern border. Verdict: False The version of events alleged in the meme are contradicted by news reporting and statements from U.S. Northern Command. The meme erroneously states that there were only two Mexican personnel involved in the incident, that the Americans were members of the National Guard and that no weapons were pointed at anyone. Fact Check: On April 13, two American soldiers were sitting in an unmarked vehicle on the American side of the U.S.-Mexico border when a group of Mexican soldiers approached and detained them at gunpoint, according to U.S. officials. The Mexicans may have erroneously believed that the Americans had inadvertently strayed into Mexican territory. The story was first reported by Newsweek on April 19 after it obtained a copy of the incident report. President Donald Trump tweeted about the incident April 24, stating, “Mexico’s Soldiers recently pulled guns on our National Guard Soldiers, probably as a diversionary tactic for drug smugglers on the Border.” Mexico’s Soldiers recently pulled guns on our National Guard Soldiers, probably as a diversionary tactic for…
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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 — on your way to the grocery store. And that country is advertising, ‘If you want the American dream, we’ll help you out — we’ll teach you how to get it in the United States,’” an unidentified border agent said to Fox News host Maria Bartiromo on Sunday. Bartiromo toured the southern border in the El Paso Sector, a region the agent described as “probably the busiest area in the country” in terms of illegal immigration. The Fox News host spotted a family crossing the border as she was filming, meeting one Ecuadorian woman with an infant who said she had been traveling for two months. The agent said they are encountering an “unprecedented” number of family units. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIv51igbOiA Advertisements, paid for by human smugglers, encouraging Central Americans to migrate to the U.S. have become more prevalent in recent time, with many illegal aliens claiming they were prompted to make the trip specifically…
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by CHQ staff Attorney General William Barr has ruled that some illegal aliens who are about to be deported must be held without bond as their deportation cases play out. According to a Department of Justice decision document released on Tuesday, Barr concluded that illegals who fit certain criteria after applying for asylum will not be eligible for release during the deportation process. The decision reverses a George W. Bush-era ruling dating back to 2005 that allowed bond to be instituted if the deportation subjects could demonstrate a legitimate fear of either persecution or danger should they leave the United States. “An alien who is transferred from expedited removal proceedings to full removal proceedings after establishing a credible fear of persecution or torture is ineligible for release on bond,” Barr wrote. “Such an alien must be detained until his removal proceedings conclude, unless he is granted parole.” “I order that, unless DHS paroles the respondent under section 212(d)(5)(A) of the [The Immigration and Nationality] Act, he must be detained until his removal proceedings conclude,” Barr wrote. Attorney General Barr’s decision has attracted broad support, even from more moderate Republicans, such as New York’s Representative Peter King (NY-2). Attorney General William Barr…
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by Victor Davis Hanson The U.S.-Mexican border is essentially wide open. Why? Because there is a general expectation in Mexico and Latin America that American immigration law is unenforced. Or it is so bizarre that simple illegal entry almost always ensures temporary legal residence, pending an asylum hearing. A scheduled asylum hearing, in turn, is seen by border crossers as a mere formality to be ignored. The popular perception on the border, then, is to stick one foot illegally onto U.S. soil, and, presto, win permanent residence for you and any family members who wish to follow. In an age of 500 sanctuary city and county jurisdictions, few illegal aliens believe they will ever be deported permanently, even if they have been apprehended committing serious crimes. There is also a general perception among would-be illegal entrants that prominent Democrats and progressives welcome their massive influxes as useful and will do their best to ensure illegal immigration continues unabated. There is also the assumption that the greater the chaos at the border, the less likely Congress will take bipartisan action to end it. After all, 2020 is an election year and progressives are in no mood to hand Trump the…
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by Nick Givas Former acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Tom Homan said President Donald Trump’s sanctuary city plan is a plausible option and would reveal Democratic hypocrisy. “Illegal aliens are already going to sanctuary cities. That’s one of the reasons they’re coming,” Homan said Monday on “Fox & Friends.” “They want to get to some place where they can be protected from ICE and get free social benefits. They can get drivers licenses. They can get [in-state] tuition. They can get college assistance … What the president did I thought was ingenious. He called their bluff.” https://youtu.be/hqZvjuPlXLY?t=1207 Homan said Democrats are only for open borders and lax immigration polices, so long as migrants and refugees aren’t living in their neighborhoods. “What [Trump] did was he pulled the curtain back on the Democratic leadership, showing the hypocrisy that they said they wanted these people in the United States. They want open borders as long as it’s not in my district. As long as it’s not in my neighborhood we’re fine with it,” he said. “So I think he pulled the curtain back and I think it was an ingenious move on his part.” Homan also claimed the Democratic platform is more about resisting…
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The White House on Sunday, echoing President Donald Trump, said sending illegal aliens to sanctuary U.S. cities that have protected them from deportation remains a possibility even though government agencies have said it would be impractical and there is no money allocated to do it. “We certainly are looking at all options as long as [opposition] Democrats refuse to acknowledge the crisis at the border,” White House press secretary Sarah Sanders told the “Fox News Sunday” show. Trump said late Saturday on Twitter, “Democrats must change the Immigration Laws FAST. If not, Sanctuary Cities must immediately ACT to take care of the Illegal Immigrants – and this includes Gang Members, Drug Dealers, Human Traffickers, and Criminals of all shapes, sizes and kinds. CHANGE THE LAWS NOW!” Democrats must change the Immigration Laws FAST. If not, Sanctuary Cities must immediately ACT to take care of the Illegal Immigrants – and this includes Gang Members, Drug Dealers, Human Traffickers, and Criminals of all shapes, sizes and kinds. CHANGE THE LAWS NOW! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 14, 2019 Hundreds of U.S. cities, along with California, the country’s most populous state, have declared themselves as havens for illegal aliens who have crossed…
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by Robert Romano “Around Dec. 2020, the total amount of money we will have put in the ground in the last couple of years will be about 450 miles. That’s probably about $8 billion, in total about 33 projects.” That was Lt. Gen. Todd T. Semonite, Chief of Engineers and Commanding General of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, giving President Donald Trump a report at Calexico, Calif. on how much new wall would be constructed by the end of 2020. Semonite broke down the figures: That’s 82 miles as of right now mainly from renovating existing fencing, another 97 miles by the end of this year, and then another 277 miles the year after that. That includes the new 30-foot steel slats. That’s actually pretty impressive given what a hard time President Trump had the first two years working with Congress, which itself was not unsubstantial, but simply not enough to get the job done. Plus getting it approved was like pulling teeth. That funding included $1.6 billion from 2018 for replacing existing fencing with new steel barriers and $1.375 billion in 2019 for more steel barriers that came after the partial government shutdown earlier this year. In addition, with…
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by Pedro Gonsalez Migrant women are so likely to be raped by people smugglers (coyotes) on the way to the U.S.-Mexico border that standard procedure is to ingest birth-control before starting the trek. So common is the brutalization of women by coyotes that in smuggling towns along the way pharmacists are at the ready. In one case a woman with a young daughter was left to die in the desert on the way to the U.S. border by coyotes. The reason? She refused to let them have sex with her daughter. The two of them only survived because Customs and Border Patrol agents found them in time. But there are fates worse than death. It is just as easy for coyotes to sell off their human cargo into what essentially amounts to modern-day slavery. In Ohio, for example, four illegal alien minors were found being forced to work on farms under threat of physical violence and without pay – that is, slavery. They were trafficked illegally into the United States from Guatemala. The victimizers of those Guatemalan children were named as follows: Aroldo Castillo-Serrano, Conrado Salgado Soto, Ana Angelica Pedro, Juan Pablo Duran Jr. Not exactly names common to the Midwest. Elsewhere, a 6-year-old illegal alien…
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by CHQ Staff We have said on a number of occasions that the Constitution is not a suicide pact and that a dysfunctional or politically gridlocked Congress should not be able to use specious separation of powers arguments to put the sovereignty of the United States and the lives and property of its citizens in jeopardy. That is why we believe that the President Trump’s Article II duty to enforce the laws of the United States and defend its Constitution trumps the appropriations clause of Article I and empowers the President to reprograms funds to secure the border in the absence of congressional action to stop the ongoing invasion of our country. But stopping the invasion is not a one solution problem – there are many actions the President can and should take to prevent millions more illegal aliens from entering the United States. One of the simplest and most effective actions he could take is to close the border with Mexico, and it seems like President Trump is inching toward the decision to do so. White House counselor Kellyanne Conway said Sunday that President Donald Trump is serious about possibly closing the U.S.-Mexico border this week. “It certainly…
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by Jason Hopkins A caravan of mostly Central Americans began its trek toward the United States over the weekend, setting the stage for what will likely be another showdown between border enforcement officials and migrants. Around 1,200 migrants formed a caravan in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas and, following the same route as numerous groups before them, started their journey northward Saturday, according to Reuters. The U.S.-bound group is made of mostly Central Americans from Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, but also includes Cuban migrants. The National Migration Institute — a department within the government of Mexico that tracks immigration — said the migrants were already within the country before they decided to assemble into a caravan near the country’s southern border with Guatemala. The latest caravan will likely further inflame tensions between these Central American countries and the White House. President Donald Trump, who has made increased immigration enforcement a hallmark of his executive agenda, has threatened Central American governments with repercussions for allowing migrants to freely make their way to the U.S. “… Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador are doing nothing for the United States but taking our money. Word is that a new Caravan is forming…
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by Jason Hopkins ICE detainment centers have become so overwhelmed with illegal aliens that the agency has been forced to release over 100,000 migrant family members in the past three months. While speaking to reporters on Thursday, Nathalie Asher, a senior official with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, revealed that her agency has had to reallocate resources as it deals with a “crushing” surge of illegal aliens on the country’s southern border. ICE has not only been forced to reduce its activity in the interior of the U.S., but the agency’s overcrowded detainment centers have released 107,000 migrant family members in the past three months, averaging more than 1,000 illegals a day. “What you’re looking at is our interior arrests have been affected,” Asher said, explaining why ICE arrests have dropped in the past few months. She said her agency is redirecting manpower to their first priority: “addressing what has been occurring and continues to occur at an alarming rate at the border.” ICE arrests have dropped 12 percent between Oct. 1 and Dec. 29 of last year, according to the agency’s latest statistics released Thursday. Agents arrested 34,546 during this time period. At the same time, an overburdened ICE…
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U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) joined Democrats in voting against President Donald Trump’s declaration of a national emergency to build the border wall and likened the president to King George III who was king of England during the American Revolution. Alexander was one of 12 Republican senators to join Democrats in a 59-41 vote against the president, The Washington Examiner said. Trump said he would veto the measure. Last month, 13 Republicans joined Democrats in the House to vote against Trump’s declaration. The Senate Republicans said Trump’s use of a declaration of a national emergency would open the doors for Democratic presidents to use the measure to push gun control or fight climate change. In a series of tweets, Alexander defended his break with the president. One tweet said, “I support the president on border security. I have urged him to build the 234 miles of border wall he has asked for in the fastest possible way by using $5.7 billion already approved by Congress.” I support the president on border security. I have urged him to build the 234 miles of border wall he has asked for in the fastest possible way by using $5.7 billion already approved by…
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On Tuesday’s Tennessee Star Report with Steve Gill and Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 am to 8:00 am – Gill talked to Neil McCabe of One America News Network while he was in Cincinnati preparing for the #WeBuildtheWall rally. Gill and McCabe concluded the segment talking about illegal immigration statistics and how the influx of illegal migrants was putting a strain on American taxpayers, their schools, and their communities. Gill: And our own Neil McCabe from One America News Network is going to be there hosting the event. He’s on our news makers line in Cincinnati WKRP from Cincinnati, don’t let them do a turkey drop or anything Neil. (McCabe laughs) As god as my witness I thought turkey’s could fly. (McCabe bellows) McCabe: Hey good morning Steve. Gill: Good morning. McCabe: So does your news director have a line pasted on his floor like Les Nessman? Gill: He had to have his area of what was designated. Quick radio story because you’re a media radio kind of guy. Years ago we were doing a promotions meeting and I made some reference to hey yeah this promotion will be…
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by Jason Hopkins President Donald Trump will ask Congress for an additional $8.6 billion for wall construction on the U.S.-Mexico border, a move that will likely set up another fierce battle over border security funding. The president is expected to roll out his 2020 budget proposal Monday, which will include billions more than his previous demand for wall funding. The budget will request $5 billion for the Department of Homeland Security and another $3.6 billion for the Defense Department’s military construction budget to build more sections of wall along the U.S. southern border, The Washington Post reported. Announcement of the new budget proposal comes shortly after the federal government ended a historic 35-day partial shutdown over wall funding. Trump in December demanded $5.7 billion to help fund massive wall construction along the U.S.-Mexico border. However, following major gridlock between Republican and Democratic lawmakers, Congress allocated only $1.375 billion to finance 55 miles of barrier in Texas. The president accepted that funding in February but also declared a national emergency that ultimately gave him a total of $8 billion in funding. A number of lawsuits have since been filed against the national emergency, and the Senate is set to pass a resolution that disapproves of the…
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by Henry Rogers Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul said he will vote against a resolution in an attempt to terminate President Donald Trump’s national emergency for border wall funding. Paul will join a group of three Republicans who have expressed their concerns with Trump’s declaration for a national emergency, saying they do not believe the president should be allowed to override Congress to such a degree. “I can’t vote to give extraconstitutional powers to the President,” Paul said, to the Bowling Green Daily News Saturday. “I can’t vote to give the President the power to spend money that hasn’t been appropriated by Congress,” he continued. “We may want more money for border security, but Congress didn’t authorize it. If we take away those checks and balances, it’s a dangerous thing.” He was speaking to the Warren County Republican Party. In the group are Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Susan Collins of Maine. “As a U.S. senator, I cannot justify providing the executive with more ways to bypass Congress,” Tillis wrote in an op-ed for The Washington Post. “As a conservative, I cannot endorse a precedent that I know future left-wing presidents will exploit to advance radical policies that will…
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On Friday’s Tennessee Star Report with Steve Gill and Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 am to 8:00 am – Gill and Leahy talked to Tennessee Congressman Mark Green about his opening statements and questions posed to Michael Cohen during the hearing in Washington yesterday. The Congressman admitted that this was a strategic move that would allow a light to be shown on the true intentions of the Democrats. Towards the end of the segment, Mark Green touched upon his positions regarding the Fetal Heartbeat bill and the border wall security funding. He went on to note that there are many Republicans not siding with the President and joining the Democrats in their resolution bill to stop the national emergency as declared by President Trump while noting the several national emergencies declared by previous Presidents in number. Gill: Congressman Green with us on our newsmakers line this morning. And Congressman, Great job. Even Rush Limbaugh gave you some kudos this week. (Green laughs) Green: Yeah that was a pinnacle. The highlight of my life to get a good shout out from Rush Limbaugh. That was pretty cool. Thanks for having…
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by CHQ Staff In an opinion piece posted Monday in The Washington Post, North Carolina’s Republican Senator Thom Tillis argued that President Trump’s declaration of an emergency on the southern border would set a precedent that could be used by future presidents to fund policy projects Congress rejects. Conservatives “should be thinking about whether they would accept the prospect of a President Bernie Sanders declaring a national emergency to implement parts of the radical Green New Deal; a President Elizabeth Warren declaring a national emergency to shut down banks and take over the nation’s financial institutions; or a President Cory Booker declaring a national emergency to restrict Second Amendment rights,” Tillis wrote according to reporting by Cathy Burke of NewsMax. “As a U.S. senator, I cannot justify providing the executive with more ways to bypass Congress. As a conservative, I cannot endorse a precedent that I know future left-wing presidents will exploit to advance radical policies that will erode economic and individual freedoms,” Tillis wrote in his op-ed. Tillis’s point would be worth debating if Democrats exhibited any signs of being constrained by the kind of constitutional limits upon which the Senator bases his argument. However, as we saw…
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The White House on Sunday defended President Donald Trump’s declaration of a national emergency to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexican border to thwart illegal immigration. “He could choose to ignore this crisis, but he chose not to,” Trump adviser Stephen Miller, a border security hardliner, told Fox News Sunday. Watch the latest video at foxnews.com Miller assailed former Republican President George W. Bush for an “astonishing betrayal” of the U.S. nearly two decades ago when four times as many illegal migrants were entering the United States as now. But Miller said the “bottom line” is that “you cannot conceive of a strong nation without a secure border.” He said Trump’s action is “defending our own borders” and that illegal immigration “is a threat in our country.” Miller explained Trump’s actions were justified under a 1976 law giving presidents authority to declare national emergencies, although none of the 59 declared since then has involved instances when a president has attempted to override congressional refusal to approve funding for a specific proposal. The President declared the national emergency on Friday, which had refused his request for $5.7 billion in wall funding, even as it approved $1.375 billion for barriers along about…
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President Donald Trump’s declaration of a national emergency to build the border wall was “unnecessary, unwise and inconsistent with the U.S. Constitution,” U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) said. Trump on Thursday evening declared a national emergency in the southern border crisis, The Tennessee Star reported. He signed a spending bill lacking the wall funds to avert a second government shutdown. Alexander is joined in his disapproval by none other than ultra-liberal U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA-43). Alexander criticized the president’s action in a press release Friday. He said: It is unnecessary because significant additional money already has been approved by Congress that he could spend on border security without declaring a national emergency. In fact, the president announced today that he would spend $3 billion of this additional funding to fund construction of the border wall. This $3 billion is in addition to the $22 billion Congress appropriated on Thursday for detention beds, technology, border patrol agents, ports of entry, replacing existing wall and 55 miles of new wall. It is unwise because if this president can declare a national emergency to build a wall, the next president can declare a national emergency to tear it down; or declare a climate change emergency to…
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On Tuesday’s Tennessee Star Report with Steve Gill and Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 am to 8:00 am – Gill and Leahy talked to Veteran and the Trump Wall point man, Brian Kolfage about he and his teams new position on how to get the wall built. The men when into detail and touched upon how the funds would be transferred via a 501 (c) (4) non-profit initiative, who’s involved, and the price it would cost to get it done and the new position to build it instead of fund it. Kolfage also described how he was impressed by those conservatives billionaires who have donated their money and want to support and help push through this goal of a border wall. “None of us are being paid. We’re knocking this out and doing it for the American people,” confessed Kolfage. Gill: A guy who’s not willing to be patient and wait for the government to move things ahead on securing America’s borders, Brian Kolfage. He started a GoFundMe account to do the private sector construction of some wall and he’s joined us on the phone lines this morning. Brian…
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U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) outlined conditions for her support of a border security deal to avert the second government shutdown in less than two months. The comments came on Fox Business News’s “Mornings With Maria.” The tentative deal in Congress provides $1.38 billion for border security funding, Fox Business News said Tuesday. The video is available online here. President Donald Trump held a “Finish the Wall” rally Monday in El Paso to kick off his 2020 presidential campaign and to continue the push for the $5.7 billion border wall, The Tennessee Star reported Tuesday. Blackburn, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said the pending deal would add 55 miles of wall to the border. She said she did not know if Trump would sign the deal. Americans want to end “the influx of drugs and sex traffickers, human traffickers, gangs, that really make our communities unsafe,” Blackburn said. Although some reports indicate the number of beds in ICE detention facilities for “violent criminal illegal aliens” is reduced in the tentative deal, the numbers don’t bare that out. The “deal” limits the number of average daily beds to a number below what Trump requested, but it is still an…
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by Tim Pearce If congressional Democrats suffered the way the family of Dan Ferguson, an angel dad, has, funding for a border wall would have been approved months ago, Ferguson told “Fox & Friends” hosts Monday. Ferguson’s daughter Amanda was killed in a hit-and-run accident in November 2018. Joel Velazquez, 24, is in the U.S. illegally and had been drinking the night he allegedly ran several red lights and hit and killed Amanda, Ferguson said. Ferguson appeared on Fox News hours before President Donald Trump is expected to hold a rally in El Paso, Texas, where Ferguson lives. He supports Trump’s plan for border security and said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer would too if they lost someone because of an illegal alien. “I’m 100 percent behind him on his deal on the wall and securing the border,” Ferguson said. “You know, he also needs to look at cutting off all the money for sanctuary cities, because all that does is let these illegal aliens back into our society to commit more crimes.” “I know President Trump has looked into the eyes of angel dads and angel moms like me. He knows the pain,” he added. Velazquez was arrested in…
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“Finish the Wall” is President Donald Trump’s slogan, which he brought Monday to El Paso, Texas in a rally to continue his push for the $5.7 billion border wall. Fox News said the president kicked off his 2020 re-election campaign with the El Paso rally. Banners with his slogan adorned the El Paso County Coliseum, where the rally took place at 9 p.m. ET, The Hill said: Trump last week in his State of the Union address used the border city of El Paso as an example of border walls working. He said during the speech that El Paso “used to have extremely high rates of violent crime, one of the highest in the country, and considered one of our nation’s most dangerous cities.”Now, with a powerful barrier in place, El Paso is one of our safest cities,” he said. The re-election campaign on Monday released a video with the voices of El Paso residents who have lived in their border community before – and after – the construction of a wall. According to a campaign statement on the video: As one resident in the video recounted, “They put the fence up and ever since then, the crime rate has gone down dramatically.” Another…
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by Peter Parisi “Everyone is entitled to his own opinion but not to his own facts.” That pithy observation is attributed to the late Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, who served in the Senate from 1977 to 2001. The final two years of Moynihan’s stint in the Senate overlapped the first two years of that of his fellow New York Democrat, Sen. Charles Schumer. President Donald Trump, at a rally set for Monday night on the border in El Paso, Texas, should remind Schumer of Moynihan’s maxim in their fight over the need for more walls and fencing along the U.S.-Mexican border to help stem the flood tide of illegal immigration. [ The liberal Left continue to push their radical agenda against American values. The good news is there is a solution. Find out more ] Schumer and his House counterpart, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., are entitled to their opinions about Trump’s proposed border wall, but they aren’t entitled to their own facts. In their rebuttal to the president’s Jan. 9 nationally televised address outlining the need for a border barrier and his request for $5.7 billion in funding for them, both described the proposed wall as “ineffective” – Pelosi once and Schumer twice. In her…
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The federal government is facing a Friday deadline for funding about a quarter of its operations, struggling to avert another shutdown after a record 35-day closure was ended last month. Construction money for a barrier at the U.S. southern border with Mexico remains at the center of the dispute, with President Donald Trump asking for $5.7 billion in funding and opposition Democrats apparently ready to offer some money, but much less than the president wants. Several lawmakers said late last week they were close to reaching a deal, even as it remained unclear what Trump would agree to. But on Sunday, Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama, the lead Republican on a 17-member congressional panel trying to reach agreement on border security funding, told Fox News, “I think the talks are stalled right now. I’m not confident we’re going to get there.” Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney told NBC News another shutdown “absolutely cannot” be ruled out. He said whether lawmakers are close to reaching a deal on border security funding “depends on who you listen to.” Mulvaney added, “The president really does believe that there is a national security crisis and a humanitarian crisis at the border…
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The day after State Representative Bruce Griffey (R-Paris) filed a bill intended to help fund President Trump’s wall on the southern border, conservative radio and talk show host Laura Ingraham tweeted about it. Griffey’s bill HB 0562, which is being sponsored in the State Senate by Joey Hensley (R-Hohenwald) as SB 1504, is “calling for the imposition of fees on the transfer of any money from Tennessee to Mexico and calling for the fees generated to be set aside to fund the border wall proposed by Trump,” according to a statement issued Thursday about the bill. The news prompted a tweet by Laura Ingraham, “YES: Tennessee lawmaker introduces bill he says will help fund Trump’s border wall,” and included a link to a story in The Tennessean with the same title. If the bill is passed into law, all qualifying transactions after January 1, 2020, would be subject to a $10 per transaction fee plus 10 percent on amounts over $500. Those licensed in the business of money transmissions, referred to as the licensee, can keep a half percent as compensation for accounting and remitting the fee to the state’s Department of Revenue. The Department of Revenue will retain one…
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Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN-05) and three fellow congresswomen are urging their Democratic colleagues to cut funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) because of its alleged abuses on the southern border. Omar was joined by Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI-13), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY-14), and Ayanna Pressley (D-MA-07) in issuing the letter – addressed “Dear Colleagues.” The letter, obtained by The Daily Beast Thursday, targets congressional Democrats working on a bipartisan conference committee convened in an attempt to reach a deal on border security. “The Department of Homeland Security is tasked with critical functions. However, under the auspice of the Trump Administration, a number of agencies housed at DHS have abused their authority and the fidelity of public resources,” the letter states. “Funds are being reallocated internally not to make our nation safer, but to build desert camps to inhumanely house infants and to prosecute immigrants who are part of the fabric of our community.” The letter goes on to request that “our colleagues at the negotiating table” adhere to “the following guidelines critical to protecting families and children and restoring Americans’ faith in government.” “Cut, do not increase funding,” the January 29 letter says. “A Republican controlled Congress has already…
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