A massive outbreak of mumps is plaguing migrant detention centers across the U.S., according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report.
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Homeland Security officials are reportedly preparing to expand DNA testing of illegal aliens in their custody, an effort to clamp down on rampant immigration fraud at the southern border.
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PENTAGON – U.S. President Donald Trump’s border wall is expanding.
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The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court Monday to allow enforcement of new immigration rules that would deny asylum to migrants who did not seek protected status in a country they passed through on their way to the southern border.
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The Trump administration is rolling out its own licensing standards for family residential centers, a move that will work around the Flores settlement and mitigate the illegal immigration crisis.
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A substantial increase in medical and humanitarian care has followed the surge of illegal immigrants at the U.S.-Mexican border, according to Department of Homeland Security statistics.
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Advocacy groups sued the Trump administration on Tuesday in an effort to block a rule published last month that expands the number of migrants who can be subject to a sped-up deportation process without oversight by an immigration judge.
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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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The Mexican government is claiming the number of U.S.-bound illegal migrants traveling through its country has decreased by 39% since May, a result of their bolstered enforcement efforts.
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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 – the duo spoke to U.S. Rep. Mark Green, a Republican congressman representing Tennessee’s Seventh Congressional District, who weighed in on his recent visit to the El Paso southern border.
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Brick by brick, figuratively speaking, with a serious assist from the Supreme Court ruling that reprogramming $2.5 billion of counter-narcotics monies may be used, Donald Trump is fulfilling his promise to get the southern border wall built.
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Attorney General William Barr ruled Monday that being a member of a family harassed by gangs is not enough to qualify for asylum.
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The Supreme Court allowed President Donald Trump to reprogram $2.5 billion in Pentagon funds to start construction on 100 miles of border wall in a late Friday order.
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Upwards of 61,000 unaccompanied illegal immigrant children have flooded the U.S. southern border since October, according to the Washington Examiner.
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As we close into just a little over a year away from the 2020 elections, there is no clearer difference between Democrats and Donald Trump when it comes to law and order than illegal immigration. Take, for example, the Democrats’ outrage at recent “raids” by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement service. If you were just listening to Democrats’ rhetoric, you would have thought masked storm troopers were breaking into the homes of American citizens in the dead of night, ripping families apart, sending people away never to be seen again.
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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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by Shelby Talcott Sen. Kyrsten Sinema is aiming to implement a program at the U.S.-Mexico border that would speed up the removal of migrants without valid asylum claims. The Arizona Democrat joined eight other senators in signing a letter Wednesday to acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan, The Arizona Republic reported. The letter detailed how the pilot program, which is called “Operation Safe Return,” would allow for some migrants to be deported within 15 days, according to the letter. “This pilot program would apply to families who aren’t claiming ‘credible fear,’ which of course is the first threshold in seeking asylum,” Sinema told The Arizona Republic. “If someone says, ‘I left my country because I can’t make a living,’ [or] ‘It’s hard to take care of my family’ — that’s what we call an economic migrant.” Border Patrol would be given one to three days for “detailed, fair and accurate interviews” with migrant families. If the families are fearful of returning to their home countries, they would be deported, the newspaper reported. If a family is fearful, the next step would be for asylum officers to conduct a credible-fear interview. The officers would have nine days after the family…
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by Jason Hopkins The Trump administration is beefing up its resources at the U.S.-Mexico border as it continues to deal with a massive influx of illegal immigrants. Acting Defense Secretary Richard Spencer approved Tuesday night the deployment of 1,200 active-duty troops and another 1,000 Texas National Guard personnel to the U.S. southern border, Department of Defense spokesperson Maj. Chris Mitchell said in a statement to the Daily Caller News Foundation. The Texas National Guard troops will be split up in their duties, with 750 personnel to “provide supplemental holding support to [Customs and Border Protection] at CBP’s temporary adult migrant holding facilities in Donna, Texas, and Tornillo, Texas,” and the other 250 will provide “port of entry (POE) enforcement support at CBP-designated POEs and airports in Texas to enhance border security and improve the flow of commercial traffic,” Mitchell said. “Decisions regarding arming military personnel and related rules for the use of force will be informed by the circumstances of their mission and be made by the Governor of Texas, in consultation with CBP,” Mitchell continued in his statement. The announcement comes after the Department of Defense earlier in July requested the Pentagon to authorized an additional 1,000 Texas…
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by Christopher Roach Democrats have renewed their vows to unwavering support of open borders. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) tussled last week with former Immigration and Customs Enforcement director Thomas Homan. After she described fence-hoppers as asylum seekers, Homan reminded her that they all have the option of presenting their asylum claims at the ports of entry. Her attempt at “gotcha” backfired. Senator Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) got tongue tied on “The View,” saying that she didn’t want to “decriminalize” illegal immigration, but that “we’re not going to treat people who are undocumented [and] cross the borders as criminals, that is correct.” Most dramatically, the entire lot of Democrats running for president raised their hands in support of giving free healthcare to anyone who makes it into the country, legally or otherwise. Is There a Crisis on the Border? Only a few short months ago, the Democrats mocked Trump for suggesting there was a crisis on the border. Now they agree there is a crisis, but they’re chiefly concerned with the conditions of the detainees. While kids every day are separated from parents who are caught with a bag of weed, and our prisons are chaotic nightmare worlds for nonviolent offenders,…
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Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH-04) slammed Democrats for their handling of the crisis at the southern border during a recent hearing before the House Oversight Committee. “What we’re going to hear from Democrats this morning is astonishing. It will be truly astonishing. For months they’ve declared there wasn’t even a crisis on the southern border” Jordan began his remarks. He quoted previous comments from the Democrats, who’ve called it a “fake crisis” and “fear-mongering of the worst kind.” “But weeks later, Democrats sure have changed their tune. The Chairman just recently said ‘Congress cannot ignore the humanitarian crisis at the border.’ For years now, Republicans have been warning about the crisis and working to find solutions, and all the while Democrats have denied there was even a problem. This is not about politics. It’s always been about preserving the integrity of our border and preventing the humanitarian crisis that we are all now witnessing,” Jordan continued. He criticized Chairman Elijah Cummings (D-MD-07) for failing to hold a hearing on the border earlier in the year. “Instead he prioritized political hearings like, well, like the hearing we first had—Michael Cohen. Think about this. The president made his emergency supplemental request only…
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by Kevin Daley The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court for clearance to begin constructing 100 miles of fencing through drug-smuggling corridors along the U.S.-Mexico border. The Friday request comes after U.S. District Judge Haywood Gilliam forbade the administration from using $2.5 billion in military funds for border wall construction. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied the administration’s request to stay that ruling while litigation continued on July 3. “The practical significance of the decision below for the government’s drug-interdiction efforts would weigh strongly in favor of further review,” the government’s stay application to the high court reads. “The decision prevents the Department of Defense from taking steps to support the Department of Homeland Security that the acting secretary of defense determined to be ‘necessary in the national interest’ to stanch the flow of illegal drugs across the southern border,” it adds. The trial court’s injunctions stalled border barrier construction projects in Arizona and New Mexico. The projects are high priorities for DHS given the volume of drug trafficking in those areas, according to government lawyers. President Donald Trump declared a national emergency at the southern border on Feb. 15. Following the declaration, the Pentagon reprogrammed the…
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by Jason Hopkins Michigan Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib claimed that no person in the United States in “illegal,” while testifying before a House committee hearing. “First, no one is illegal. That term is derogatory now because it dehumanizes people. You can say any other forms of maybe ‘coming in without any regulations’ or so forth, but the use of ‘illegal’ is disrespectful and I ask my colleagues to try in so many way to not dehumanize our immigrant neighbors who are trying to come in for safe haven,” Tlaib said Friday during a House Oversight committee hearing. The congresswoman, herself the daughter of Palestinian immigrants, spoke about the southern border crisis and the alleged mistreatment of illegal aliens being held in detention facilities, and claimed that a “dangerous ideology” was governing the country. In an effort to paint a grim picture of Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the Michigan Democrat spent a significant amount of her time describing the different people she met in their custody, recounting moments she met a young child, a father, a pregnant mother and others who were detained after illegally crossing the border. “The dehumanization is not only with those families, but also with…
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by Jason Hopkins National Border Patrol Council President Brandon Judd blasted Hillary Clinton for publicly coaching illegal immigrants how to avoid apprehension from Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. “I’m amazed that somebody that somebody that ran for president of the United States — that was willing to promise to uphold the laws of the United States, the Constitution of the United States — is now actively helping people avoid justice,” Judd, who leads the Border Patrol’s union of nearly 20,000 members, said Friday on Fox News. Judd’s comments follow a tweet Clinton sent Thursday. The former first lady and Democratic presidential candidate published an image that contained a list, written in Spanish, of recommendations for illegal aliens to follow in order to avoid apprehension and deportation from ICE agents. The instructions advised illegal aliens “not to open the door” for agents and to report their badge number, type of vehicle they are driving, and where they were seen. Clinton’s tweet was in response to President Donald Trump’s planned immigration raids. ICE agents are expected to target roughly 2,000 illegal immigrants across 10 U.S. states Sunday, the first day of an ongoing operation by the agency to apprehend and deport…
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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 Audrey Conklin Migrants traveling from Africa to Mexico in 2019 will break records, data from the Mexican Office for Domestic Affairs suggest. The number of undocumented African migrants Mexican officials registered tripled in the first four months of 2019, reaching 1,900 people, compared to the same time in 2018, Reuters reported Friday. Data from 2018 saw four times as many undocumented Africans compared to five years ago, reaching about 3,000 people. People from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which is still recovering after a years-long regional conflict that killed millions, was the third largest group of new refugees globally at about 123,000 people in 2018, according to the United Nations Refugee Agency. Cameroon’s internally displaced population grew by 447,000. U.S. Border Patrol agents apprehended over 500 African migrants in the Del Rio Sector in Texas between May 30 and June 5, most of whom came from the Congo, Angola and Cameroon, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). “The introduction of this new population places additional burdens on processing stations, to include language and cultural differences,” Del Rio Sector Chief Patrol Agent Raul L. Ortiz said in a June statement. “This large group from Africa further…
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by Jason Hopkins Former Vice President Joe Biden took a centrist position on a major immigration issue, coming out strongly against the decriminalization of illegal immigration. “No, I don’t,” Biden said when asked by CNN’s Chris Cuomo if crossing the U.S. border illegally should no longer be a criminal offense during an interview that aired Friday. “I think people should have to get in line, but if people are coming because they’re actually seeking asylum, they should have a chance to make their case.” “I would be surging — as we did, and [former President] Barack [Obama] and I did — surging folks to the border to make those concrete decisions. Look, the other thing, Chris, why are they coming? The reason the vast majority of these people are coming from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador is because they’re in trouble. Crime rates are high. Education is terrible,” he said about the immigration crisis. Biden’s comments come as a bit of a reversal from the first Democratic presidential debates held in late June. When the debate moderator asked who onstage supported the decriminalization of illegal immigration into the U.S., Biden raised his hand halfway and gestured his forefinger up,…
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by Jason Hopkins Texas GOP Rep. Dan Crenshaw called New York Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez a liar after she claimed migrants in detention centers are being forced to drink toilet water. “She’s getting bolder with her lies on this. This is what’s actually happening and this is what the American people need to understand: People like AOC are operating off of a false premise, and it’s deliberately designed to misinform the American people for her own political ends,” Crenshaw said Tuesday to Fox News’s Martha MacCallum. Crenshaw’s comments follow accusations made by Ocasio-Cortez about migrant detention centers she visited. The New York Democrat said agents harassed and disrespected her during a tour of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) facilities and that the conditions of the facilities were squalid. “Remember, first there was no crisis at all. OK? Then it was a manufactured crisis. Then it was a crisis completely created by [President Donald] Trump. Then there were concentration camps. Then people are Nazis. Now she’s saying that Border Patrol agents harassed her and forced migrants to drink out of toilets,” Crenshaw said. “This is insanity. This is not true. There is no one else corroborating these kind of reports,”…
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A new report by the Homeland Security Inspector General describes appalling conditions and wretched overcrowding at migrant detention centers in Texas with a top manager at one of the facilities saying he fears for the security of his staff, calling the situation a “ticking time bomb.” The report released Tuesday includes numerous pictures of people behind cages lying on bare cement floors with nothing to do, men in a room with standing room only, men and women wearing surgical masks appearing to be reaching out to the photographers for attention. One photo shows 88 men packed inside a room designed to hold 40 with one pressing a cardboard sign reading “help” against the window. The report says some migrants deliberately clog the toilets with socks and blankets just to get the chance to get out of the cages while the toilets are fixed. The inspector general’s report says the opportunity for personal hygiene is scarce and that many migrants became ill and constipated from the diet of bologna sandwiches that they are given. The inspector general called on the DHS to “take immediate steps to alleviate dangerous overcrowding and prolonged detention of children and adults in the Rio Grande…
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by Jason Hopkins The Trump administration is slapping fines on illegal immigrants who are ignoring court orders to leave the U.S. — one of them totals nearly half a million dollars. “It is the intention of [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] to order you pay a fine in the amount of $497,777,” read a June 25 ICE letter to Edith Espinal Moreno, a woman who has remained in Ohio despite an immigration judge ruling two years ago that she must leave. NPR first reported on the letter. An ICE spokesperson confirmed to the Daily Caller News Foundation the agency is sending these notices to illegal immigrants. “The Immigration and Nationality Act grants U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement the authority to impose civil fines on aliens who have been ordered removed or granted voluntary departure and fail to depart the United States,” read an ICE statement to the DCNF Tuesday. The agency also pointed to a January 2017 executive order that called on the government to fine illegal aliens. Aliens who refuse a Justice Department Executive Office for Immigration Review order to leave the U.S. could receive a Notice of Intention to Fine, or NIF. They then are given a 30-day…
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by Kevin Daley The White House accused a federal judge of imposing an “open borders” agenda on the country Wednesday, after she issued an injunction against a new immigrant detention policy. U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman said in a Tuesday decision the Trump administration cannot categorically deny bond hearings to asylum-seekers. That would allow migrants to leave detention pending a decision on their asylum request. “The district court’s injunction is at war with the rule of law,” press secretary Stephanie Grisham said. “The decision only incentivizes smugglers and traffickers, which will lead to the further overwhelming of our immigration system by illegal aliens. No single district judge has legitimate authority to impose his or her open borders views on the country.” “We must restore our democracy and ensure Americans have the voice to which they are entitled under our Constitution,” she added. So-called nationwide injunctions prohibit the entire government from enforcing certain laws or policies. Such injunctions have proliferated since President Donald Trump took office — as of May, district judges have issued 37 injunctions against the Trump administration. Courts issued just 27 nationwide injunctions in the entire 20th century, according to a Justice Department tabulation. Critics of such…
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The president of the world’s largest Hispanic Christian organization toured the same Texas migrant center that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY-14) viewed and saw a completely different scene. Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, the president of National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference (NHCLC), was “full of indignation” after seeing reports of soiled diapers and centers lacking basic hygiene and sanitary items. Thus, he asked the White House to grant him immediate access to a detention facility. On Monday, Ocasio-Cortez toured an El Paso County detention center and described horrible conditions at the facility. “Just left the 1st CBP facility. I see why CBP officers were being so physically &sexually threatening towards me. Officers were keeping women in cells w/ no water & had told them to drink out of the toilets. This was them on their GOOD behavior in front of members of Congress,” she tweeted. Just left the 1st CBP facility. I see why CBP officers were being so physically &sexually threatening towards me. Officers were keeping women in cells w/ no water & had told them to drink out of the toilets. This was them on their GOOD behavior in front of members of Congress. — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) July 1,…
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by Jason Hopkins Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said migrant women held in a Customs and Border Protection facility were told to drink water out of toilets, but an agent has directly refuted the allegation and she has yet to clarify if she actually saw such an action occur. “Officers were keeping women in cells w/ no water & had told them to drink out of the toilets. This was them on their GOOD behavior in front of members of Congress,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted Monday after visiting her first CBP detention center that day. It was her first accusation that women in the Texas facility were being explicitly told by agents to drink water from toilets. Ocasio-Cortez later spoke to reporters outside the facility, and her comments suggested she personally saw women drinking out of a toilet. “These women were being told by CBP officers to drink out of the toilet. They were drinking water out of the toilet, and that was them knowing a congressional visit was coming. This is CBP on their best behavior,” the New York Democrat stated Monday. However, she did not provide an answer when a reporter asked if she personally witnessed this. A CBP agent who…
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by Kevin Daley A federal judge in California barred the Trump administration Friday night from reallocating $2.5 billion to construct border barriers. U.S. District Judge Haywood Gilliam, an Obama appointee, expanded an earlier order and forbade the government from moving forward with specific border wall projects in Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Texas. He also turned the previous order into a permanent injunction. “Congress considered all of defendants’ proffered needs for border barrier construction, weighed the public interest in such construction against defendants’ request for taxpayer money, and struck what it considered to be the proper balance — in the public’s interest — by making available only $1.375 billion in funding, which was for certain border barrier construction not at issue here,” Gilliam’s order reads. Elsewhere in his decision, Gilliam said government lawyers were advancing “an argument that the court should not enjoin conduct found to be unlawful because the ends justify the means. No case supports this principle.” After declaring a national emergency at the southern border, the administration announced it would reprogram the administration will reprogram $600 million from the Treasury Department’s forfeiture fund, $2.5 billion from Defense Department counter-narcotics activities, and $3.6 billion from military construction…
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by Chuck Ross The New York Times published an op-ed Saturday that calls for border protection agents to face “serious social costs” and public shaming over their work at facilities housing migrant children. “The identities of the individual Customs and Border Protection agents who are physically separating children from their families and staffing the detention centers are not undiscoverable,” writes Kate Cronin-Furman, an assistant professor at University College London. “Immigration lawyers have agent names; journalists reporting at the border have names, photos and even videos. These agents’ actions should be publicized, particularly in their home communities.” In the article, Cronin-Furman proposes a public shaming campaign — which she insists is not the same as “doxxing” — in hopes of forcing border protection agents to quit their jobs. She also said her proposal would deter others from taking jobs as border agents. Tens of thousands of migrants from Central America flock to the border each month in hopes of obtaining asylum to enter the U.S. The influx has tested the limits of border facilities housing migrant children and families. In the piece, Cronin-Furman envisions a scenario where a U.S. government employee who has been filmed at a migrant facility faces…
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by Robert Romano The Supreme Court unanimously ruled that a citizenship question can be included in a Census under the U.S. Constitution, however a narrower 5 to 4 majority threw out the specific rationale used by the Trump administration for the 2020 Census, remanding the case to lower courts for adjudication. Chief Justice John Roberts, joining the higher court’s liberal justices, stated “We do not hold that the agency decision here was substantively invalid. But agencies must pursue their goals reasonably. Reasoned decisionmaking under the Administrative Procedures Act calls for an explanation for agency action. What was provided here was more of a distraction.” This is the so-called reasoned analysis that is supposed to accompany a regulation under Supreme Court precedent. The Department said it relied on the Department of Justice saying the information was needed to enforce the Voting Rights Act. In this case, however, the court ruled that the Department of Commerce “adopted the Voting Rights Act rationale late in the process” and the “evidence established that the Secretary had made up his mind to reinstate a citizenship question ‘well before’ receiving DOJ’s request, and did so for reasons unknown but unrelated to the VRA.” The court…
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by Jason Hopkins The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) expects apprehensions of illegal aliens to decline by 25% along the U.S. southern border in June and directly credited President Donald Trump’s immigration deal with Mexico for the change. “It’s become clear that over the past three weeks, since the administration reached a new agreement with Mexico, that we’ve seen a substantial increase in the number of interdictions on the Mexican southern border, and a sincere effort to the transportation networks coming through Mexico,” DHS Secretary Kevin McAleenan said to reporters Friday. “In terms of when we’re going to know if these efforts in Mexico are making an impact, I think these three weeks have demonstrated that they are ready. That 25% decrease in June is more than we’ve seen in past years. We are not really tracking a seasonal pattern anymore,” he stated, explaining the decline is not completely attributable to the change in season. The DHS chief’s announcement follows a deal between the Trump administration and Mexico City reached on June 7. In return for the U.S. not slapping a 5% tariff on all its goods, Mexico agreed to dramatically ramp up its own border enforcement. Its government…
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by Julie Kelly The crisis at the southern U.S. border proves at least one thing to be true: Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) is more honest than Senator Mitt Romney (R-Utah) and his fellow anti-Trump Republicans. Ocasio-Cortez, to her credit, has never tried to fool the American people or her constituency by suggesting she wants anything less than open borders. Lawmakers on the Left, including the roster of Democratic presidential candidates, have made it clear we must accept an unlimited influx of refugees from Central America. The treatment of migrant children, they tell us, is a national disgrace and an international scourge. Border patrol agents are criminals but the tens of thousands of Central American citizens illegally entering our country each month are not, they insist. Overflowing intake facilities are compared to Nazi concentration camps, and Donald Trump is Adolf Hitler. I don’t know about you, but I’ll take that sort of unabashed honesty—no matter how insane, dangerous, and historically illiterate it is—over the deceptive and duplicitous machinations of alleged “conservatives” like Romney. To her credit, AOC doesn’t pretend to be someone she’s not—staged and dated photo-op notwithstanding. Give me a truthful authoritarian over a phony conservative any day. At…
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Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN-05) joined three House Democrats in voting against a bill Tuesday evening that would provide $4.5 billion in emergency border funding, some of it for humanitarian relief. According to NPR, the House bill “seeks to establish protocols to meet standards of care for migrants held in temporary emergency shelters, including food, water hygiene and basic medical care.” “And the legislation places caps on how long unaccompanied migrant children can stay in those facilities and places standards of care on government contractors operating detention facilities,” the outlet adds. In an exclusive interview with Fox Business, President Donald Trump said was he “not happy” with the bill “because there’s no money for protection.” “It’s like we’re running hospitals over there,” he added. The Hill reports that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA-12) urged Democrats to support the bill during a closed-door caucus meeting Tuesday afternoon. “Understand what we’re up against in the White House. The president would love for this bill to go down today,” Pelosi said, according to a Democratic aide who spoke with The Hill. “A vote against this bill is a vote for Donald Trump and his inhumane, outside-the-circle of civilized attitude toward the children,” she…
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Wayfair employees and their supporters gathered to protest outside the company’s Boston headquarters Wednesday after learning the online retailer sold bedroom furniture to detention centers housing migrant children. According to NBC News, people protesting shouted “this is what democracy looks like” and “Hey-Hey, Ho-Ho, ICE contracts have got to go.” It was awesome to see the turnout today. Thank you to everyone who showed up to the #WayfairWalkout pic.twitter.com/x4oUttSv9i — wayfairwalkout (@wayfairwalkout) June 26, 2019 pic.twitter.com/ojaRQmDtPC — wayfairwalkout (@wayfairwalkout) June 26, 2019 The protests started after employees found out that Wayfair had fulfilled a $200,000 order to BCFS, a non-profit government contractor that manages the camps’ migrants are currently staying in. The facility receiving the order currently houses 3,000 migrant children, according to a letter sent last Friday to the company’s leadership team and signed by more than 500 workers. Receipts (for those who asked): Follow @wayfairwalkout Support #Lights4Liberty Donate to #RAICESTEXAS#CloseTheCamps pic.twitter.com/hKBKHIaRck — Grace, as in AMAZING #BLM #ProtectTransKids (@guiltyx) June 25, 2019 “We believe that by selling these (or any) products to BCFS or similar contractors we are enabling this violation and are complicit in furthering the inhumane actions of our government,” the letter states. The Wayfair…
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by Matt M. Miller Mexico has deployed 15,000 soldiers and National Guardsmen at the U.S.-Mexico border and is detaining migrants who attempt to illegally cross. The Mexican government’s actions aim to meet President Donald Trump’s demands that the country help slow the influx of migrants entering the U.S. from Mexico, AFP reports. “We have a total deployment, between the National Guard and army units, of 14,000, almost 15,000 men in the north of the country,” Mexican Defense Minister Luis Cresencio Sandoval said at a press conference. Sandoval confirmed the governing is now detaining migrants at the border, AFP reports. “Given that (undocumented) migration is not a crime but rather an administrative violation, we simply detain them and turn them over to the authorities” at the National Migration Institute, he continued. Earlier this month, Mexico committed to deploying 6,000 National Guardsmen to its southern border to control immigration, but only a fraction have actually been deployed, according to the New York Times. Trump gave Mexico an ultimatum last month, threatening to place a 5% tariff on all Mexican imports starting on June 10 unless illegal immigration from Mexico into the U.S. was stopped. Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador expressed…
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by Jason Hopkins Border Patrol officials relocated the majority of children held at a government facility following reports that more than 300 children being housed were subjected to unsanitary and “inhumane” conditions. Democratic Rep. Veronica Escobar of Texas said Monday that 30 children remained in the border facility near El Paso, Texas, The Associated Press reported. The massive relocation came after an AP report on June 20 gave lurid details of the conditions migrant children were living in. The Border Patrol station in Clint, Texas, contained children who were reportedly hungry, had not showered in days and were left to take care of young infants, according to attorneys who visited the station. Many of the children had been living in the facility for weeks — despite that they are required to be taken into Health and Human Services’ custody within 72 hours. Fifteen children had the flu, and 10 were being held in medical quarantine. “How is it possible that you both were unaware of the inhumane conditions for children, especially tender-age children at the Clint Station?” Escobar asked in a June 21 letter delivered to Customs and Border Protection acting commissioner John Sanders and U.S. Border Patrol chief…
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by Jason Hopkins Border Patrol Chief Carla Provost spoke to Congress on Thursday about the immigration crisis, and how it’s keeping agents from apprehending migrants who cross the border illegally. “I have been forced to divert 40% to 60% of Border Patrol’s manpower away from the border as we process and care for nearly 435,000 family and children that have flooded across our southern border so far this year,” Provost said Thursday before the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Border Security, Facilitation and Operations. Border Patrol and other agencies within the Department of Homeland Security have long complained the immigration crisis has forced them away from their enforcement duties, as they must handle the large influx of illegal migrants needing to be processed within the U.S. Provost said 1,036 illegal migrants were caught in a single group in May — the largest single apprehension in the 95-year history of the Border Patrol. Such overwhelming numbers, she said, have forced her agents to abandon their posts, leaving other illegal migrants able to evade arrests. “So far this year, we have observed 100,00 people who have successfully evaded arrest, a five-year high in what we call ‘got-aways,’” the Border Patrol chief…
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by Ben Whedon Deportations under President Donald Trump have not reached the highs seen during the Obama administration, despite immigration enforcement being one of his signature campaign issues. During former President Barack Obama’s early years in the White House, the deportation of illegal immigrants reached record highs, according to Homeland Security documents obtained by Axios. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) sent back more than 385,000 illegals each fiscal year from 2009 to 2011 — and reached a record high of 409,849 in fiscal year 2012. These numbers tapered off in Obama’s later years, dropping under 250,000 in fiscal year 2015 and 2016. While deportations have steadily risen during Trump’s presidency, the have notably not reached the highs of his predecessor. In fiscal 2017, federal immigration authorities conducted 226,119 deportations. These numbers climbed to more than 250,000 in fiscal 2018, and reached a Trump high this fiscal year with 282,242 deportations as of June. There are still roughly three more months left in the current fiscal year, giving Trump more time to tick the numbers up. While Obama launched major initiatives aimed at protecting illegal immigrants, such as the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, he was also criticized…
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by Fred Lucas The recent spike in illegal immigration from African countries underscores the increase in migrants coming from around the globe to sneak across the southern border—including more than 10,000 from Asia and almost 900 from Europe last year. In recent weeks, U.S. Customs and Border Protection apprehended more than 500 illegal immigrants from African countries that include Angola, Cameroon, and both the Republic of the Congo and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Associated Press reported. That’s more than twice the 211 total apprehensions during fiscal year 2018 of illegal border crossers from the continent. Customs and Border Protection numbers from fiscal 2018 show significant numbers from other continents as well. The recent spike in illegal immigration from African countries underscores the increase in migrants coming from around the globe to sneak across the southern border—including more than 10,000 from Asia and almost 900 from Europe last year. In recent weeks, U.S. Customs and Border Protection apprehended more than 500 illegal immigrants from African countries that include Angola, Cameroon, and both the Republic of the Congo and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Associated Press reported. That’s more than twice the 211 total apprehensions during…
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by Jason Hopkins Democratic Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar said no individual is an “alien,” and that President Donald Trump uses the word to justify human rights abuses. “No one is an ‘alien.’ This is family separation on a massive scale,” Omar tweeted Tuesday. “Dehumanizing immigrants and tearing apart families will not make us any stronger. It will only destroy lives, traumatize children, and make our country less safe.” In response to massive online criticism, the first-term Democratic lawmaker doubled down on her remarks. “To the trolls: Trump uses dehumanizing language like ‘aliens’ ‘illegals’ or even ‘animals’ to justify horrific human rights abuses against migrants. The DOJ now mandates that public officials only use the term ‘illegal aliens.’ This is straight out of the demagogue’s playbook,” she wrote. No one is an "alien." This is family separation on a massive scale. Dehumanizing immigrants and tearing apart families will not make us any stronger. It will only destroy lives, traumatize children, and make our country less safe. https://t.co/a8q9YV3AGX — Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) June 18, 2019 To the trolls: Trump uses dehumanizing language like "aliens" "illegals" or even "animals" to justify horrific human rights abuses against migrants. The DOJ now mandates that…
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by Jason Hopkins Mexican government officials are bracing to accept more illegal migrants than they likely can handle in order to meet their end of a deal with the Trump administration. As many as 70,000 illegal immigrants in the U.S. are expected to be sent to Juarez in 2019, according to the chief of the Chihuahua State Population Council who spoke to The Washington Post. More than 200 undocumented migrants were booted to the Mexican border town Thursday, doubling the amount from the day before. The number of illegal immigrants sent to Juarez is only expected to keep climbing, with as many as 500 migrants from El Paso, Texas, to begin arriving daily in the next few weeks. The surge of illegal migrants heading out of the U.S. and back to Mexico is a break from past protocol. Mexico has only accepted about 10,000 migrants border-wide in 2019, according to WaPo. However, per an agreement reached with the White House, its government has agreed to accept a dramatically higher number of U.S. asylum seekers, keeping them within Mexican borders while they wait for their claims to be processed in U.S. immigration courts. Mexico has also significantly stepped up immigration…
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The Trump administration hopes within days to conclude a deal with Guatemala that would block Central Americans from seeking asylum in the U.S. VOA has obtained an unsigned copy of a seven-page draft White House agreement which would establish a “safe third country” protocol between the U.S. and Guatemala. The draft is set to be presented to the government in Guatemala City this week. Under the terms of the agreement, migrants fleeing persecution in El Salvador and Honduras would be required to seek asylum in Guatemala, a gateway to Mexico and the United States. With few exceptions, those who continue north to the U.S. without testing their chances in Guatemala would be sent back to Guatemala by U.S. immigration authorities. Mexico has resisted entering a “safe third country” agreement as part of its recent deal with the Trump administration to avoid punishing tariffs. But talks of a regional pact emerged shortly after President Donald Trump revealed he had agreed to terms with Mexico to curb migration levels through increased Mexican enforcement. In May, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) registered the highest monthly total of southwest border apprehensions in 13 years, setting up Trump’s most recent showdown with his…
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by Jason Hopkins President Donald Trump on Wednesday warned of implementing a “phase two” if the immigration deal with Mexico does not yield satisfactory results. “Now, Mexico is moving 6,000 troops to their southern border. That’s a lot of troops. That’s a lot more — we never even heard of a number like that,” Trump said at the White House alongside Poland President Andrzej Duda. The two leaders met Wednesday for a bilateral meeting. “That’s a lot of troops. But that’s what they want to do because they want to produce. I think Mexico really wants to produce.” The president then made a somewhat ominous warning to the press. “If Mexico does a great job, then you’re not going to have very many people coming up. If they don’t, then we have phase two. Phase two is very tough, but I think they’re going to do a good job,” he said. When asked for clarification on what a “phase two” would entail, Trump repeated it was a “much tougher” phase. The president’s comments follow a major deal reached between U.S. and Mexican officials. In return for the U.S. agreeing not to slap their goods with a 5% tariff, Mexico…
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by Hans von Spakovsky The supporters of open borders and sanctuary policies that obstruct enforcement of our immigration laws must be overjoyed by the latest report from the Department of Homeland Security. The Border Patrol intercepted more than 144,000 illegal aliens at the southwest border in May, the largest monthly total in more than a dozen years. Those who push these policies should be ashamed of themselves. As a gruesome murder in Maryland of a 14-year-old girl demonstrates, they are allowing dangerous criminals into the country and are creating sanctuaries for them to repeatedly victimize Americans and endanger the safety of the public. There are literally hundreds of thousands of individuals who are being killed, raped, assaulted, robbed, beaten, and kidnapped by criminal illegal aliens in this country, aliens who are protected by sanctuary jurisdictions, such as Prince George’s County, Maryland. In one of the latest tragedies caused by these reckless policies, on April 18, Ariana Funes-Diaz (who went missing from a group home for girls) was forced to strip and was then beaten with a baseball bat, slashed with a machete, and slain. Three teenagers are in custody, accused of this heinous crime, at least two of whom…
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by Jason Hopkins Research estimates how much human smugglers make from transporting illegal migrants to the U.S.-Mexico border, revealing just how profitable the industry has become amid the current immigration crisis. Human traffickers made anywhere from $200 million to $2.3 billion in 2017 from smuggling migrants to the U.S., according to a study by the Rand Corporation and commissioned by the Department of Homeland Security. The study, titled Human Smuggling and Associated Revenues, sought to uncover more details about the revenue made by the transnational criminal organizations that bring individuals from Central America over to the U.S.-Mexico. The report found that the majority of illegal immigration to the U.S. is fueled by criminal organizational efforts, with more than 60% of illegal migrants estimated to be paying a human trafficker for help. Migrants will pay anywhere from $3,000 to over $11,000 in smuggling fees, depending on what type of route and service they request. Customers are given an array of choices for their journey, such as more expensive routes that are safer and less physically demanding, or routes that are cheaper, but more dangerous and taxing to cross. “[U]nlawful migrants generally are required to pay taxes, or pisos, to drug-…
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