Tag: DHS

Walz Administration Recommends ‘Sensitivity Training’ in Response to Child Care Fraud

Anthony Gockowski

Gov. Tim Walz wants staffers involved in Minnesota’s Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) to undergo “cultural sensitivity and implicit bias” training after a recent report confirmed widespread fraud in the program. As The Minnesota Sun has reported, the Office of the Legislative Auditor’s long-awaited report confirmed that millions of dollars in government payments have gone to fraudulent child care centers, and described a “serious rift” among CCAP officials. The report suggested that some “child care center owners have recruited CCAP eligible mothers by offering to pay kickbacks to entice the mothers to advise county CCAP staff that their children are attending a particular center.” Walz decided to intervene this week, and had Deputy Department of Human Services Commissioner Chuck Johnson deliver a set of recommendations to the Minnesota House Early Childhood Committee. Among them was a proposal to require staffers to “undergo training on cultural sensitivity and implicit bias,” Fox 9 reports. The recommendations are now included in a bill introduced by House Democrats this week. “The commissioner of human services shall develop equity and implicit bias training for state and county licensors and require all licensors to receive this training within 30 days of initial hiring and once every…

Read the full story

Minnesota DHS Inspector General Placed on ‘Investigative Leave’ After Release of Child Care Fraud Report

Anthony Gockowski

Department of Human Services Inspector General Carolyn Ham confirmed Monday that she was placed on “investigative leave” following the Office of the Legislative Auditor’s report on fraud in the Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP). Ham is the only inspector general in Minnesota, and her office is housed under the Department of Human Services. As such, she is responsible for investigating the DHS’s programs, like CCAP. Last week’s report from the Office of the Legislative Auditor confirmed that millions of dollars in government payments went to fraudulent child care centers, and described a “serious rift” among officials overseeing CCAP. It also revealed that some “child care center owners have recruited CCAP eligible mothers by offering to pay kickbacks to entice the mothers to advise county CCAP staff that their children are attending a particular center.” The report prompted multiple efforts from Republican legislators to subpoena Ham for testimony, but those efforts were repeatedly blocked, as The Minnesota Sun previously reported. Other Republican lawmakers called for Ham’s resignation, and raised questions about why her office reports to the DHS, since her main task is to investigate the department’s programs. “The child-care rip-off is the biggest scandal in Minnesota history, and the state…

Read the full story

The Number of Illegals Caught at the Southwest Border Nearly Doubles, DHS Reports

Admin

by Jason Hopkins   Apprehensions of illegal migrants at the southwest border in January increased dramatically from the same time last year, and experts predict 2019 will experience increases in illegal migrant arrests overall. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) — a subset agency of the Department of Homeland Security — reported a total of 47,893 apprehensions of illegal migrants in January at the southwest border, a region of the U.S.-Mexico border that is the most active. The number marked an increase of nearly 22,000 arrests, or 84 percent, from January 2018. The huge uptick could suggest more illegal immigrants will try to cross the U.S.-Mexico border in 2019 than originally anticipated. Princeton Policy Advisors, a group that analyzes immigration trends, is currently forecasting 606,000 apprehensions for the entire year, but left the door open to increase this projection. “The January numbers don’t yet warrant an upward revision in our forecast of 606,000 apprehensions in 2019. But we are on notice,” Steven Kopits, president of Princeton Policy Advisors, stated to the Washington Examiner. “Buckle your seat belts: 2019 could be a wild ride at the southwest border.” The January numbers reflect a growing trend at the U.S.-Mexico border. Nearly…

Read the full story

Omar, Tlaib and Progressive Allies Call for DHS Funding Cuts: ‘Not Another Dollar’

Anthony Gockowski

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…

Read the full story

Republicans Call on Minnesota DHS to Hand Over Information About Child Care Fraud

Anthony Gockowski

Newly-appointed Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) Commissioner Tony Lourey is facing pressure from Republican legislators over the department’s failure to respond to several data requests seeking information on the state’s alleged child care fraud. The fraud was first exposed in a May 2018 Fox 9 report, and has been a subject of concern for Minnesota Republicans ever since. Investigative reporters found that up to $100 million in suitcases had left MSP bound for the Middle East. Experts suspected that some of the money was being transferred through Hawalas, the unofficial banking systems of some third-world countries, which are generally compelled to hand over a share of the profits to Al-Shabab. The story resulted in a shock allegation from Republicans: Minnesota taxpayers, through widespread fraud in the state’s Child Care Assistance Program, are funding foreign terrorists. The fraud scheme, according to Fox 9, generally included daycare centers across the state registering low-income families for their services so they could bill the state for a full day of care. In many cases, however, the children would never show up, while families in on the scam would receive shares of the profit. Rep. Mary Franson (R-Alexandria) and former Rep. Matt Dean (R-Ely)…

Read the full story

Despite Security Concerns, DHS Official Says No Signs of Successful Election Cybersecurity Attacks

Admin

by Gavin Hanson   An official from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) reportedly said the department had not picked up on any indications of successful election cyberattacks as of early Wednesday morning. The 2018 midterm election came and passed without any official observations of hacking, according to the DHS, The Hill reported. This, however, doesn’t rule out that such a cyberattack could still be discovered or happen at a later time. “We’ve not seen, or we’re not aware, of any successful cybersecurity-related compromises of election infrastructure,” a DHS official told journalists during a press call. “At this time we have no indication of compromise to our nation’s election infrastructure that would prevent voting, change vote counts, or distrust the ability to tally votes,” Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen said during a Tuesday press conference. The day before the election, the FBI released a joint statement with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the DHS about the security of the midterms. The statement also said that although foreign states continue to push propaganda and division on social media, there is “no indication of compromise” to the election itself. ” … Americans should be aware that foreign actors —…

Read the full story

Cyber Infrastructure Gets a Boost by Congress

Admin

by Natalia Castro   In the last year, both chambers of Congress have been working hard to improve our nation’s cyber security and cyber infrastructure. Last week, the Senate passed landmark legislation that will modernize U.S. cyber technology to combat growing threats around the world. On Oct. 4, 2018, the Senate passed the Cyber security and Infrastructure Security Agency Act of 2018 which passed the House in December 2017 when it was introduced by Texas Republican Rep. Michael McCaul. In the Senate it passed by unanimous consent and in the House by voice vote due to its widespread support. The Act reorganizes the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) main cyber security unit, the National Protection and Programs Directorate, to the Cyber security and Infrastructure Protection Agency. Under the law, this group will now function more like FEMA or the Secret Service instead of a small internal DHS office. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen noted in an interview with the Washington Post, “We are responsible for federal efforts when it comes to both protecting critical infrastructure, working with the owner-operators in private sector, and protecting all those civilian dot govs. To do that, we have to have both a name that indicates…

Read the full story

Restaurant Manager Where Secretary Nielsen Was Mobbed ‘Happy About What Happened’

Admin
Security Nielsen Was Mobbed

by Julia Cohen   The Mexican restaurant where Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen was swarmed by protesters Tuesday in Washington, D.C., took no action to quell the protesters or ensure Nielsen’s safety, a manager told The Daily Caller News Foundation on Wednesday. “We are not upset the protesters came here and we are not upset even if it was any of our staffers [who tipped off] the protesters,” the MXDC Cocina Mexicana manager, who refused to give his name, told TheDCNF. “We are happy about what happened.” Police responded to the incident, USA Today reported. The manager also said that, to his knowledge, no one who worked at the restaurant contacted authorities when the protesters arrived, and that it may have been one of her security detail or another restaurant patron. “We don’t know who exactly contacted the police … we don’t know,” he said.  The manager, who has tan skin and long, grey, hair, expressed his gratitude for President Donald Trump’s Wednesday executive order mandating that families be kept together. Trump signed the rule in response to widespread backlash against families being separated at the southern border when crossing into the U.S. illegally. “We are very happy about what happened this…

Read the full story

Commentary: Say NO To Rep. Mike McCaul As DHS Secretary

Tennessee Star Staff

  by ConservativeHQ.com Staff   The appointment of Department of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly as White House Chief of Staff has opened a new, and dangerous, search for a Secretary of Homeland Security. Prior to the nomination and confirmation of General John Kelly as DHS Secretary no one campaigned harder for the job than did the Chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, Representative Mike McCaul of Texas. Our view then, and now, is that McCaul would be a disaster as Secretary of Homeland Security. Not only is McCaul soft on illegal aliens and amnesty, but he has demonstrated a total lack of understanding of the threat that Muslim terrorism and Islamism present to the American homeland and more importantly to constitutional liberty. As the President and his team consider names for this vital position it should never be forgotten that Rep. McCaul was a vital member of the team that implemented Obama’s failed “Countering Violent Extremism” counter terrorism doctrine. At the time McCaul and Obama were promoting the canard that there is a universal element of “violent extremism” that must be countered we asked the question: Who are these “violent extremists” who need to be countered? Are…

Read the full story

Commentary: DHS Grant of Half-Million Dollars To Masjid Muhammad A Mistake

Tennessee Star Staff

  by ConservativeHQ.com Staff During the Obama years the Department of Homeland Security and other domestic security agencies, such as the FBI, were scrubbed of any mention of Islam as the driving force behind terrorism. This led to the bizarre situation where jihadi organizations and Muslims with clear ties to terrorist organizations, such as Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood being embraced by Obama as part of his “Countering Violent Extremism” or CVE project. This would be the same project that sought to whitewash Muslim terrorism and Islam’s violent precepts, while painting right-to-life advocates, patriotic veterans and limited government constitutional conservatives as potential terrorists. The Trump administration and Department of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly have made some progress in dismantling that nonsense, but remnants of it persist, especially in the federal grants to community organizations to fight against recruitment of Americans to terrorist groups. Recently, the Department handed out 26 different grants and as our friend Tim Brown at Freedomoutpost.com pointed out, among those was none other than Masjid Muhammad, Inc., which received $531,195. Masjid Muhammad of Atlantic City Located in Atlantic City, the organization offers prayer services, Islamic studies classes, online classes and other services to the Muslim community.…

Read the full story

DHS Secretary John Kelly Pushes Back on Obama’s Comments: ‘We’re Not Hiding Behind a Wall’

Tennessee Star Staff

Department of Homeland Security Secretary John F. Kelly pushed back Friday against comments made by former President Barack Obama about constructing a border wall. “We’re not hiding behind a wall. We’re constructing physical barriers backed up by technology, and of course the great men and women of customs and border protection, to simply safeguard our Southern…

Read the full story

Whistleblower: DHS Allowed MS-13 Gang Members Into Country as Part of Illegal Immigrant Surge

Tennessee Star Staff

The Obama administration knowingly let in at least 16 admitted MS-13 gang members who arrived at the U.S. as illegal immigrant teenagers in 2014, a top senator said Wednesday, citing internal documents that showed the teens were shipped to juvenile homes throughout the country. Sen. Ron Johnson, chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, said a…

Read the full story

Immigration and Customs Enforcement Division of DHS Spent Tens Of Thousands Of Dollars Sending Officials To Tolerance Seminar

Tennessee Star Staff

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) spent tens of thousands of dollars to send its officials to a “tolerance seminar” put on by the Simon Wiesenthal Center, a group known for opposing immigration control efforts. Documents provided by ICE to the Immigration Reform Law Institute in response to a FOIA request indicate that several dozen ICE officials…

Read the full story