TDS Outbreak: ACLU Issues Florida ‘Travel Alert’ After Sanctuary Cities Ban

Is there a leftist organization that has not gone nutty as a fruitcake in the Age of Trump?

The latest to evince TDS (Trump Derangement Syndrome) is the American Civil Liberties Union. The group has always been well left of center and trending further left. They’ve long not been fans of protecting, say, religious liberties when conflicting with the gay agenda.

But their reaction to Florida’s strong, new anti-sanctuary cities law is just precious in its nuttiness. It doesn’t even really attempt to make a legal or ethical case.

For Florida Republicans and Gov. Ron DeSantis, it’s simply a promise made and a promise kept. He tweeted:

“Earlier this year, I made a promise that we would ban sanctuary cities in Florida and today we are delivering on that promise. I am proud to sign the bill presented to me by the FL Legislature to uphold the rule of law and ensure that our communities are safe.”

First, the ACLU of Florida issued a “travel advisory” regarding Florida following the enactment of the law when Gov. Ron DeSantis signed it last week. A travel advisory! Like, don’t travel to Venezuela or North Korea. If you travel to those countries, you may be killed. If you travel to Florida…they may follow federal law? They might cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials? Alert!

But that was not the full extent of their radical response to a law that shouldn’t even be necessary except that the American left has tipped off a cliff.

Here’s the tweet that the national ACLU sent out regarding Florida following the law regarding cooperating with immigration authorities:

“Today, Gov. DeSantis signed the un-American SB 168 bill into law, a reckless expansion of state government and an affront to the democratic values we share. The law is anti-immigrant, unconstitutional, inhumane, and hurts our families and communities.”

Remember, this bill merely says that municipalities have to work with federal immigration authorities to enforce federal law. For 90 percent of American history it was a given that would be the case (excluding the Civil War, but kind of a different thing there.)

But now we need laws telling Democrat-run municipalities they are not allowed to openly disobey federal law. It’s still a little hard to imagine this is necessary, let alone that it could ever be controversial.

But now it’s unconstitutional? It’s unconstitutional to require that federal law be followed? It’s anti-immigrant to say that local authorities can’t shelter people living here illegally who have been arrested for a different crime? It hurts “our” families and communities to follow the law? It’s inhumane?!?!

It’s impossible to take the ACLU seriously anymore with such wild hyperbole. Too bad. Because I personally know there are at least a few reasonable people in the Florida ACLU who have tried to keep the organization from going full-blown radical partisan.

Obviously they’ve lost the battle.

Just go ahead and categorize the ACLU with the Southern Poverty Law Center and so many other groups that played some sort of honest roll at one point, but are now just Democratic Party hacks.

RELATED ARTICLE: It’s Not Just Central America: Where Illegal Immigrants on the Border Come From

RELATED VIDEO: Federation for American Immigration Reform’s RJ Hauman and Preston Huennekens discuss Congress’ approach to addressing the immigration crisis.

EDITORS NOTE: This Revolutionary Act column is republished with permission. All rights reserved.

NEW YORK WILL PROVIDE ILLEGAL ALIENS WITH DRIVER’S LICENSES: Where is Gov. Cuomo’s MVP Award from terrorists?

On June 18, 2019 The New York Daily News reported, “Cuomo signs bill granting undocumented immigrants access to New York driver’s licenses despite 11th-hour concerns.”

Incredibly, the concerns were not about how this might impact national security, public safety or the immigration crisis on the border, but about how information in the DMV databases might help the federal government to enforce immigration laws and what needs to be done to prevent this from happening!

This is not the first time that the New York State legislature attempted to provide driver’s licenses for illegal aliens, but this time this dangerous and wrong-headed legislation has become the law of the state.

Back in 2007 then-New York State Governor Spitzer pushed for similar legislation that would have provided illegal aliens with driver’s licenses.

I testified before the New York State Senate on October 15, 2007 on that issue, in which I voiced my extreme opposition to the legislation.

When I addressed the hearing I noted that the preposterous claim made by proponents for issuing driver’s licenses, and an argument that was used during the most recent debate, is that since illegal aliens will drive “anyway” (with or without a license), a license would enable them to get insurance and they would learn to drive more safely. I told them that by this reasoning the State of New York should provide convicted felons with firearms training and carry permits since it is likely that they would also violate the laws and carry guns “anyway.” I then said that with proper training the criminals could improve their accuracy and thus would be less likely to hit innocent bystanders in a gun battle. Further, perhaps through training, they could be convinced to use trigger locks between bank robberies and drive-by shootings. With my tongue firmly embedded in my cheek I suggested that this would improve public safety immeasurably.

You can imagine their reactions!

The concerns I included in my prepared testimony then are as relevant today as they were then, with one additional critical factor: in the nearly 12 years since that hearing, while there have been no terror attacks carried out by international terrorists that involve the hijacking of airliners, there have been a string of deadly mass casualty terror attacks around the world and in the United States that involved terrorists using motor vehicles as weapons.

On June 14, 2019 the Justice Department announced the sentencing of a citizen of Yemen for his terrorist activities: “New York Man Sentenced to 20 Years in Prison for Attempting to Join ISIS in Yemen.”

The press release included this paragraph:

Following his return to the United States in September 2015, Naji continued to express his support for ISIS and violent jihad.  In July 2016, following the ISIS-inspired terrorist truck attack in Nice, France, that killed scores of innocent civilians, Naji told the CS how easy it would be to carry out a similar attack in Times Square, explaining that ISIS “want[s] an operation in Times Square” and stating that an ISIS “reconnaissance group . . . put up scenes of Times Square.”

Naji further explained, “if there is a truck, I mean a garbage truck and one drives it there to Times Square and crushes them . . . Times Square day.”

Terrorists have also used vehicles such cabs and passenger vans to conduct clandestine meetings and as a means of conducting covert surveillance on potential terror targets.

The TSA was created in the aftermath of the terror attacks of 9/11 and funded to the tune of billions of dollars. It currently employs more than 45,000 people and  maintains and uses so-called “No Fly Lists” to help prevent terrorists from gaining access to airliners.

Yet there are no “No Drive Lists” to prevent terrorists from being able to access cars and trucks.

Perhaps the efforts to enhance security in the commercial aviation sector have paid off or, perhaps the terrorists have simply shifted their methodology. In any event the use of motor vehicles as weapons has prompted cities to install numerous physical barriers to protect against such attacks but few barriers exist to prevent terrorists from gaining access to motor vehicles.

On August 20, 2018, CNN provided a synopsis of such attacks in an article, “Terrorist Attacks by Vehicle Fast Facts.”

Terrorists who have driver’s licenses don’t pose a risk only to those who live in the state where the license was issued. They can simply rent a car in New York and drive anywhere in the U.S. or travel to any other state and use their New York driver’s license to rent a car there.

Now New York, the state that by far suffered the greatest devastation on September 11, 2001 and has suffered other terror attacks, including one that involved a truck used to run down people on a bicycle path just blocks from the World Trade Center, will enthusiastically provide illegal aliens with driver’s licenses.

My dad taught me to drive. When he handed me the keys to our family car he told me that a car could be more lethal than a gun. And as we have seen all too frequently, that statement is accurate, dead accurate.

Continuing with my dad’s comparison of guns and cars, 18 U.S.C. § 922(g) is a federal law that prohibits certain individuals from possessing firearms that includes:

(5) who, being an alien- (A) is illegally and unlawfully in the United States; or (B) except as provided in subsection (y)(2), has been admitted to the United States under a nonimmigrant visa (as that term is defined in section 101(a)(26) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(26)))

The penalty for violation of this law is a maximum of 10 years in jail.

New York City Penal Code similarly prohibits non U.S. citizens (aliens) from possessing firearms.

Why then should illegal aliens be given the privilege of driving motor vehicles when their very presence in the United States is a violation of law and we may never know their true identities?

Drivers licenses, however, convey more than the authority to drive motor vehicles.

Illegal aliens, criminals, fugitives and terrorists seek to acquire identity documents such as driver’s licenses, particularly under false names to conceal their true identities and their movements and provide them with an illusion of legitimacy to which they are certainly not entitled.

My earlier article, “Immigration And The Unlearned Lessons Of 9/11,” included the link to an important New York Times article, “Roosevelt Avenue, a Corridor of Vice,” which reported on the nexus between illegal immigration, crime (including human trafficking, prostitution, narcotics), and the use of false identity documents, primarily by illegal aliens.

“Undocumented Immigrants” generally have no authentic and reliable means of identifying themselves. The New York Times article noted how important it was for the NYPD to shut down the fraud document vendors because of the dangers associated with providing such individuals with identity documents. However, for local officials to provide illegal aliens with authentic driver’s licenses directly violates the findings and recommendations of the 9/11 Commission which was behind the creation of the REAL ID Act.

It is all but impossible for state or local officials to properly determine the true identifies of “undocumented” aliens. Thus illegal aliens would be able to easily game the licensing procedures to acquire an actual driver’s license under false identities making the DMV no better than the fake document vendors who ply their trades in communities across the United States as described in the New York Times article I noted above.

It is remarkable that on August 4, 2004, MSNBC published an NBC report, “9/11 report light on ID theft issues,” which included this paragraph:

But in the nation’s most comprehensive look yet at what went wrong on Sept. 11., and what can be done to prevent the next terrorist attack, identity theft gets scarce mention. Buried deep within the 9/11 commission report — on about 10 pages, starting with page 393 — are suggestions for dealing with the deeply connected problems of terrorism and identity fraud.

Then there was this disconcerting paragraph:

Terrorism and identity theft go hand in hand, experts say.  The al-Qaida training manual includes provisions for trainees to leave camp with five fake personas, says Collins, who uses a copy of the manual to train law enforcement officials. Terrorists are regularly schooled in the art of subsisting off credit card fraud while living in the United States, Collins said.

In the hands of an illegal alien, a driver’s license may well become a license to kill.

RELATED ARTICLE: Chip Roy: House Democrats Have Agreed To Vote On Trump’s Emergency $4.5 Billion Border Supplemental Request

EDITORS NOTE: This FrontPage Magazine column is republished with permission. All rights reserved.

ICE Releases List of Murderers and Rapists Protected Under Sanctuary City Policies

Immigration and Customs Enforcement released a list of criminal illegal aliens who were released from jail due to sanctuary city policies, many of whom went on to commit other crimes.

Washington and Oregon, two states under Democratic Party control, have enacted some of the strongest sanctuary laws in the country that protect illegal immigrants from federal apprehension.

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, a Democrat, signed legislation in May that prohibits local jails and state prisons from honoring ICE detainers, and bars them notifying ICE when a suspected illegal immigrant is about to be released from their custody.

The newly minted law puts Washington on par with Oregon and California in terms of the level of restriction placed against federal immigration authorities. Federal law enforcement officials argue that their job becomes much more difficult with these laws, and communities are put in more danger.

“There is an inherent increase in risk to personnel and bystanders when ICE officers and agents must go out into the community to proactively locate these previously detained criminal aliens,” read a press release from the agency.

“ICE commends our local law enforcement colleagues who work to minimize that risk by cooperating with ICE to apprehend criminal aliens at the time of their release from local custody.”

In a bid to show the horrific consequences of sanctuary laws, ICE on Monday released details of some of the criminals in Washington and Oregon custody who went on to evade ICE apprehension.

Rosalio Ramos-Romas, a Honduran national, was deported from the U.S. four times before his arrest in Washington in October 2017.

However, after local authorities failed to hand him over to ICE, he was then charged in January 2018 with stabbing his cousin to death, decapitating the body, and then attempting to hide the remains in a dumpster.

A county jail in Kent, Washington, did not honor a January 2014 retainer placed on Jorge Luis Romero-Arriaga, a Honduran living illegally in the U.S., despite being held on a charge of child rape.

Local authorities instead released him into the community pending the results of his case. Romero-Arriaga was subsequently convicted in August 2015, according to ICE, and deported from the country.

The list went on to describe other examples of illegal immigrants in Washington and Oregon committing murder after local jails ignored an ICE detainer and released them into the public.

In another instances, a Washington county jail refused to honor an ICE request, despite that individual already having been convicted of rape in the state.

Oregon Republicans, long a minority in their state, have grown frustrated over Democratic support for sanctuary policies.

“Oregon Democrats are more interested in political games, at the expense of real lives, than they are at upholding the rule of law,” Jonathan Lockwood, a Republican spokesman at the Oregon Legislature, said in a statement to The Daily Caller News Foundation.

“Gov. Kate Brown is endangering Oregonians on virtually every level and has no business being in the governor’s office.”

ICE argues that not cooperating with its agents puts the community at a greater risk of danger.

“When local law enforcement decides to uphold sanctuary policies and release illegal criminal aliens without notifying ICE, it is a decision to protect and release criminals who are preying on victims in our communities. By allowing criminal aliens, particularly those with egregious criminal records, to be released, it places everyone in potential danger,” said Bryan Wilcox, an acting field operations director for ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations.

COLUMN BY

Jason Hopkins

Jason Hopkins is an energy investigator for the Daily Caller News Foundation. Twitter: @thejasonhopkins.

EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities for this original content, email licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

California: Known Gang Member Javier Olivarez Faces Nine Felony Charges in Crash that Killed Single Mom

This is a story from last month that I missed.  Thanks to a reader for sending it.

It is an incredibly sad story about a popular suburban dog walker who was just returning from a local park with her clients, six dogs, when a police chase ensued.

Her killer, Javier Olivarez, widely described as a “career criminal and gang member,” was attempting to elude police and smashed into a car stopped at an intersection killing Jessica Bingamen (41) and instantly killing four of the six dogs she had with her.

One report says it took 20 minutes to remove her body.

She leaves behind a ten-year-old daughter.

I just read through at least six reports and not one mentions Olivarez’s immigration status!

However….

My observant reader points to an article from last year, describing a man with the same name and age (in Michigan) who had been previously deported to Mexico, but was back and once again in trouble with the law. Same man?  See it here.

Now here is more about the, by all accounts, beloved Jessica and what happened to her that fateful day in May.

From ABC News,

California dog walker, 5 dogs killed when man slams into vehicle during police chase

A high-speed police chase ended tragically this week when a stolen van barreled into a dog walker at a California intersection, killing her and five of the six dogs she was caring for.

Jessica Bingaman, 41, of Long Beach, California, was returning from a local park on Tuesday morning when 43-year-old Javier Olivarez allegedly slammed into her small Ford SUV as he fled from police in a stolen van, according to the Long Beach Police Department.

“Bingaman was transported to a local hospital by the Long Beach Fire Department and was later pronounced deceased due to major traumatic injuries sustained during the collision,” the department said in a statement. “Six dogs were being transported in the 2013 Ford as part of a dog daycare service. Four dogs passed away at the scene and two were transported to a local pet hospital.”Bingaman, a mother of one, had just stopped at a stop sign when Olivarez drove through the sign and came speeding towards her, the department said.

A fifth dog passed away at the pet hospital due to injuries sustained in the crash and the remaining dog has been released to its owners from the hospital, according to the department.

Denise Thomson, who said she lived next door to Bingaman, said she was a popular dog walker who was dedicated to her 10-year-old daughter and her canine clients.
“I’ll miss her,” Thomson told ABC California station KABC. “She loved her daughter with all her heart, and she loved the dogs that she took care of.”

“She loved the outdoors, she loved exercise, she loved yoga. Just happy-go-lucky,” added Denise Lee, a friend of Bingaman.

Police officers spotted Olivarez, who officials said is a career criminal and known gang member, in a stolen 2016 Nissan van a few blocks away from the crash site. The officers tried to conduct a traffic stop, but Olivarez took off, sparking a high-speed chase through a largely residential neighborhood, police said.

The pursuit ended with Olivarez slamming into Bingaman’s Ford Escape — crushing it — and careening into three parked cars, police said. He was transported to a local hospital with minor injuries.

More here.

Go Fund Me page has been set up to help Jessica’s daughter, here.

The coming crime wave (here already!) from the mass migration into America.

Last month Daniel Horowitz penned a post at Conservative Review in which he warns of a coming crime wave like nothing we have seen as hundreds of thousands of illegal migrants flood into the US.

Read it here.

But, here is my question—if the media fails to report the immigration status of a “known gang member” like this creep Olivarez, how will the average casual follower of the news know from where the crime is coming?  (And, thus how to stop it?)

But, I guess that is exactly what the media power structure doesn’t want us to know!

That is why it is vitally important that you get stories like this one out to your social media networks to help counter the fluffy-puffy sob stories the media spreads about the poor migrant souls being supposedly mistreated by our President.

EDITORS NOTE: This Frauds, Crooks and Criminals column is republished with permission. All rights reserved.

Catholic Charities Helping to Relocate Congolese Illegal Aliens

Those entering the U.S. through this route did so because they “were scared the [refugee] process was not gonna work, or that it’s last (sic) a standstill.” (Christina Higgs, Catholic Charities San Antonio)

I am furious to see that the border jumpers claim (or at least their Catholic handlers claim) that the refugee process might not work for them!

Why isn’t the media reporting that we have admitted as refugees to the US over 50,000 DR Congolese refugees in under five years with 8,000 arriving here in the last 8 months!

The DR Congolese are at the moment, by far, the largest refugee ethnic group being admitted to the US.

When is enough, enough?

Not fast enough for them so they headed to South America for a long and EXPENSIVE trip to the southern border.

I sure hope we don’t find out that the Catholic Church has been paying for the migration!

If you missed last night’s post about the Laura Ingraham segment about how cagey the Congolese were when interviewed in Portland, go here.

Then see where else this first batch was placed!  The word is that more are on the way!

From the Washington Examiner,

African migrants pass through San Antonio and swiftly fan out across the country

SAN ANTONIO, Texas — Roughly 300 Congolese and Angolan citizens who arrived in San Antonio the first week of June after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border days earlier have all briskly departed the city for destinations across the country, some with fuzzy plans based partly on hope.

The hundreds of family members and single adults from Central Africa first showed up June 4 at the southern border’s Eagle Pass and Del Rio towns in south-central Texas. The migrants surrendered to Border Patrol agents and claimed asylum after crossing the Rio Grande.

The agency did not, as it is supposed to, turn families over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Instead, it released families onto the streets of Eagle Pass and Del Rio, according to two government and nongovernment officials with first-hand knowledge of the matter. The African migrants then bought bus tickets to either San Antonio or Austin, according to San Antonio Interim Assistant City Manager Colleen Bridger.

“If — a family, the sponsor — it’s been 24-48 hours and they can’t buy the [bus] ticket, then we’ll buy it,” Elizabeth Nemeth, executive director of Catholic Charities’ west side center, told the Washington Examiner Thursday.

[….]

“They come with a place in mind. ‘My friend told me to go to Portland, Maine, because there’s a lot of Congolese families that already live there and it’s welcoming,” said Nemeth. “And they have that plan in mind, right? But they don’t understand the geography — like where it is, how much it costs to get there. There’s a lot of misconceptions. They may think, ‘I have a friend there,’ but they don’t have a friend’s phone number … [We can look into] what is their last name, phone book, call shelter and ask about them, connect the dots. I wouldn’t say that we’re just putting them randomly.They have an idea.”

The African migrants are spending six to seven months traveling to Brazil then up to the U.S.

Those entering the U.S. through this route did so because they “were scared the [refugee] process was not gonna work, or that it’s last a standstill,” said Christina Higgs, Catholic Charities spokeswoman for the San Antonio region. Some worried traveling to or through Europe was “getting really dangerous.”

“He used the term, and I hate to say it, but they were trying to hedge their bets by coming his way and see if they couldn’t get here that way,” she added.

More here.

We have been more than ‘welcoming’ to the DR Congolese, heck we have been busy moving them en masse (on the taxpayers dime) to every corner of America and it still isn’t enough!  Hundreds simply break in!

My head is exploding!

What is it going to take to get the facts to the public when most reporters are ignorant, lazy, or worse!

RELATED ARTICLE: Illegal Aliens Sue Border Patrol. The Lawsuit’s Outcome Can Have Massive Implications. 

EDITORS NOTE: This Frauds, Crooks and Criminals column is republished with permission. All rights reserved.

Florida Passes Toughest Sanctuary City Ban In The Nation

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis just signed into law the toughest sanctuary cities bill ban in the nation, keeping a campaign promise despite apoplectic, snarky media coverage.

DeSantis today signed Senate Bill 168 requiring Florida law enforcement officials and governmental entities to honor federal “immigration detainer” requests that ask a law enforcement agency to detain someone on probable cause that they can be removed from the country under federal immigration laws. That is, they are here illegally and will be sent home. Because law enforcement is holding them, that means they either have or are accused of committing crimes beyond illegal entry into the U.S.

In sanctuary cities around the nation, law officers cannot hold them for Immigration officials, but must release them back into the population.

The new law prohibits local officials from implementing any sort of “sanctuary” policies, which problematically had previously not been defined in state law, and gives the governor the authority to remove officials from office if they do not comply with the law.

That is a powerful strong law.

Despite the media talking about how the law is “controversial” — mostly in newsrooms and Democratic headquarters — DeSantis and team created a huge, public signing ceremony, live-streamed it on Facebook and had a lot of those involved present. U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, who represents Okaloosa County, where the bill-signing took place, and bill sponsor state Sen. Joe Gruters, of Sarasota, also the chairman of the Republican Party of Florida, joined at the event.

Apparently these guys don’t feel it is too “controversial.”

DeSantis told a packed Okaloosa County Commission Chambers that the bill “is about the rule of law” and emphasized the issue of “public safety.”

“I said we were going to do certain things, and I’m happy to report after having just one legislative session under our belt we’re delivering on the promises we made to the people of Florida,” he said.

Sanctuary cities are popular in liberal states and in some cities in red states. But they are also havens for criminals who obviously flock to those areas where they will be protected from the feds.

DeSantis called them “law-free zones” where people who are here illegally can commit crimes, and then “just walk out the door and continue to do it.”

The media is running their normal PR campaign for Democrats. The Tampa Bay Times’ snarky headline is: “Gov. DeSantis signs ‘sanctuary cities’ ban into law. There aren’t any in Florida.”

Well yes, because there had not been a definition before and this is designed to make sure there won’t be any in the future.

Here’s the lead right below it.

“Fulfilling a key, controversial campaign promise popular with his party’s base, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill Friday that will ban so-called “sanctuary cities” in Florida, though the policy is expected to draw a legal skirmish over its constitutionality as it goes into effect next month.”

See, it’s just about playing to the base. But is it? The Hill reported:

“A survey from Harvard–Harris Poll provided exclusively to The Hill found that 80 percent of voters say local authorities should have to comply with the law by reporting to federal agents the illegal immigrants they come into contact with.”

So maybe not all that controversial among Americans after all. Mostly journalists.

Considering the chaotic and tragic crisis at the southern border that President Trump and some Republicans have been trying to fix — and being blocked at every turn by activist judges and Democrats in Congress — this issue will remain a winner for Republicans in 2020.

EDITORS NOTE: This Revolutionary Act column is republished with permission. All rights reserved.

President Trump has real support among Hispanic voters!

The National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) is hosting a presidential candidate forum for Democrats on June 21, 2019 in Miami, Florida. The  NALEO Educational Fund and Latino Decisions conducted a poll and found that Latinos are following Election 2020 very closely.  More than eight in ten (84 percent) Latino voters reported being likely or certain to vote in November 2020.

The NALEO/Latino Decisions Spring 2019 National Poll found the following top issues:

  • Lowering the costs of health care – 37%
  • Improving wages and incomes – 24%
  • Protecting immigrant rights – 19%
  • Creating more jobs – 19%

Twenty-five percent of those polled view President Trump as somewhat (13%) or very (12%) favorable. Only 15% of those polled put as a priority ‘stopping Trump and the Republican agenda.”

The Washington Post in a column titled “Trump’s support among Hispanics and Latinos is real. Don’t assume it will fade” reported:

Recent YouGovQuinnipiac and Post-ABC News polls put his approval rating among Hispanics at 27 percent, 23 percent and 18 percent, respectively. Those numbers average out to about 23 percent — that’s a substantial chunk, and it’s not so different from his 2016 vote share. According to demographers Ruy Teixeira, Rob Griffin and John Halpin, Trump won 29 percent of the Latino vote against Hillary Clinton in 2016.

That roughly 25-30 percent of figure shows up elsewhere in the data.

President Trump has support in the Hispanic community with his pro-growth and pro-American workers agenda. The President’s recent efforts to lower healthcare costs can only help him.

As WaPo notes:

There’s one obvious reason that the Hispanic and Latino vote splits up and isn’t monolithic: Hispanic and Latino voters aren’t one identity homogeneous group. As with every other large racial and ethnic category (white, black, Asian), there’s a lot of internal diversity when you look under the hood.

[ … ]

It’s true that most Hispanic and Latino voters are Democrats, but some of the same political beliefs and identities that motivate non-Hispanics and non-Latinos to become Republicans, including religion, gender and partisanship also influence Latinos and Hispanics. Roughly 30 percent of them are a consistent Republican base.

The Democrats may be going down the wrong path when it comes to policies like de-funding ICE, raising taxes and pushing the $15 minimum wage, which all hurt job creation and wages. Giving free healthcare to illegal aliens rather than Hispanic citizens may be the deal breaker.

President Trump is kicking off his 2020 campaign in Orlando, Florida. Florida is key to his re-election. The Hispanic vote in the Sunshine state is important to both parties in 2020.

VIDEO: Walls Work – and We Can Prove It!

I recently returned from our trip to Israel to see first-hand what walls can do to keep a country safe from war, invasion and worse.

What I saw was amazing.

Our Israeli hosts took us on a tour of their wall in the south that separates the Gaza Strip from Israel – a wall that has cut terrorists from crossing the border to kill Israeli farmers, families, and government officials by an astounding 99.9%.

I’ve posted a short video on our YouTube channel of our visit to the Gaza Wall – the kind of wall we need on our own border with Mexico to get our illegal immigration crisis under control.

As you may know, Hamas terrorists who control Gaza have been financed and armed by the radical Imams who run Iran – the same Imams who chant “Death to America” as a national motto.

In the north, my team and I went right up to Israel’s border with Lebanon where Hezbollah – also financed by Iran – has launched attacks and rockets into Israel’s interior. Thanks to Israel’s comprehensive border security systems, including the highly effective Iron Dome, these attacks that have been reduced to nearly zero.

Nevertheless, Hezbollah keeps digging attack tunnels under the border and Israel keeps finding and destroying these subterranean roadways into northern Israel communities. Through the direction of Iran, Hezbollah has exported their tunnel technology into Mexico and work with the drug cartels to tunnel into the United States!

This is not acceptable!

And now that the international community led by President Donald Trump has officially recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and moved our Embassy there, walls and strict control of border crossing points has shut down efforts by homicide bombers from inflicting terror on civilian populations.

Politicians Must Face Consequences for Crimes They Enable: Malfeasant politicians must find no “sanctuary.”

The phrase, Failure is Not An Option served as the title of the book written by Gene Kranz, Flight Director for NASA who helped create the U.S. manned space program and was instrumental in successfully returning the crew of Apollo 13 to the earth after their spacecraft suffered a catastrophic explosion half-way to the moon.

In most professions, especially where lives are on the line, failure to do the job is not an option.  This is particularly true where law enforcement and the military are concerned.

Politicians, not unlike members of the military and law enforcement officers, take oaths of office where they swear (affirm) that they will enforce our laws and defend the Constitution.  While law enforcement officers and members of the armed forces may face dire consequences for violating their oaths of office, politicians generally do not.

Their oaths of office do not provide an “escape clause” whereby they may opt to ignore any of the laws that are not to their liking.

Unlike the entries on the menu of a restaurant where the patrons order the food that they find palatable or where they may substitute one item on the menu for another, their oaths of office demand that those who take that oath agree to enforce all laws and honor and defend all of the provisions of our Constitution.

Dereliction of duty is a serious offense for members of the armed forces and for law enforcement officers and one that carries significant consequences.

On June 4, 2019 ABC News reported, Police arrest ex-deputy who ‘did absolutely nothing to mitigate’ Parkland school massacre.

We will not delve in the specifics of this ongoing case, but it is important to note that the deputy sheriff in this case has been charged with multiple crimes, some of which are felonies, all emanating from his alleged failures to act to protect the children who were killed in that school.

Contrast how that deputy is being prosecuted for alleged failures to act with the politicians who, with impunity, demand that law enforcement officers not act to cooperate with immigration law enforcement personnel – even when those actions result in the death of innocent victims.

The outrageous assertions that “Sanctuary” policies protect immigrants from immigration law enforcement are blatant lies.  Law abiding aliens, immigrants and non-immigrants alike, need no protection from ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) agents..

Aliens who violate our immigration laws, however, pose a threat to national security and public safety.  The 9/11 Commission was crystal clear that the terror attacks of September 11, 2001 and other such attacks conducted by aliens in the United States were only possible because of multiple failures of the immigration system.

In fact, I would argue that violations of our borders and immigration laws must be seen as violations of our Constitution.

Article IV, Section 4 of the U.S. Constitution provides:

The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against invasion; and on Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened) against domestic violence.

Invasion is defined, in part, as an incursion by a large number of people or things into a place or sphere of activity or an unwelcome intrusion into another’s domain.

My recent article, Sanctuary Policies Kill, included a link to a May 21, 2019 ICE press release, ICE seeks custody of teen murder suspects for a second time– Local jurisdiction failed to honor previous detainers which began with this excerpt:

BALTIMORE – Following the recent arrest of two unlawfully present teens suspected in the violent murder of a young girl in Maryland, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) officers in Baltimore are again seeking to take custody of the illegal aliens through the ICE detainer process following the Prince George’s County Detention Center’s (PGCDC) failure to cooperate.

Josue Rafael Fuentes-Ponce and Joel Ernesto Escobar, both Salvadoran nationals, were previously arrested on May 11, 2018 when they were arrested by Prince George’s County Police Department (PGCPD) for attempted first-degree murder, attempted second-degree murder, participation in gang activity, conspiracy to commit murder, attempted robbery, and other related charges. ICE officers lodged a detainer with PGCDC, however both were released on an unknown date and time without notification to ICE.

On May 16, 2019, PGCPD arrested the same individuals and charged them with first-degree murder.

That girl who was killed was stabbed and bludgeoned to death was just 14 years old, roughly the same age as some of the children who were shot to death at the Parkland school massacre.

She is no less dead than are the victims of the school shooting in Florida and her life is no less valuable.

Had the officials of Prince George’s County honored the ICE detainer, that young girl would still be alive today.

Tragically and infuriatingly, this is not an isolated case.  This refusal by “Sanctuary” jurisdictions to cooperate with ICE occurs across the United States with sickening regularity and all too frequently with innocent people being killed.

Malfeasance has been defined as the performance by a public official of an act that is legally unjustified, harmful, or contrary to law.

It would certainly appear that the promulgation of “Sanctuary” policies constitutes malfeasance.

Furthermore, when the political leaders of a jurisdiction order law enforcement officers who are under their command to ignore immigration laws, they are inducing/coercing malfeasance by those sworn law enforcement officers.

Our nation’s borders and our nation’s immigration laws make no distinction about race, religion or ethnicity.  They were enacted to prevent the entry and continued presence of aliens who pose a threat to public safety, national security and the lives and livelihoods of Americans.

A review of one of the sections of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), 8 U.S. Code § 1182 that enumerates the categories of aliens who are to be excluded from entering the United States dispels any doubts about the nature of our immigration laws.

Additionally, multiple failures of the House and Senate to fund a border wall, provide funding for enhancing the enforcement of our immigration laws from within the interior of, and provide legal remedies to failure of the immigration laws particularly where political asylum and the Flores Decision are concerned, further exacerbates the immigration crisis.

Adding fuel to the blazing fire that is the obvious crisis along the border, the Democrat-controlled Congress just passed a new version of the DREAM Act, as reported by CBS News on June 5, 2019, House passes latest DREAM Act, hoping to place millions of immigrants on path to citizenship.

At the same time it was reported, California Lawmakers Move to Expand Medicaid for Illegal Immigrants.

Rather than deter illegal immigration, these legislative actions incentivize illegal immigration.

A section of the INA, 8 U.S. Code § 1324, establishes crimes that relate to the smuggling of aliens into the United States as well as the harboring, shielding such aliens from detection.

That section of law also deems it to be a crime to encourage or induce aliens to enter the United States illegally or remain in the United States illegally or otherwise aids or abets these crimes or crimes relating to conspiracies to commit these crimes.

This law seemingly only applies to “mere” citizens but not to our political elites.

Either through litigation and/or elections, those politicians who obstruct immigration law enforcement and thus fail to adhere to their oaths of office and Constitutional responsibilities, must be made accountable.

EDITORS NOTE: This FrontPage Magazine column is republished with permission. All rights reserved.

Big Business and Big Labor Push Illegal-Alien Drivers’ Licenses in New York

By David Jaroslav

Powerful special interests are joining forces with like-minded politicians to push drivers’ licenses for illegal aliens in the Empire State, even though polls consistently show most New Yorkers are opposed.

On May 29, the Business Council of New York State, which represents many of the state’s biggest businesses, publicly endorsed Senate Bill (SB) 1747, nicknamed the “Green Light Bill.”  The bill would require the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to issue drivers’ licenses to illegal aliens.  More specifically, it would:

  • Create a category of drivers’ licenses for illegal aliens marked as “Not For Federal Purposes,” comparable to the other states that issue licenses to them, like California and Illinois;
  • Forbid DMV from asking about citizenship or immigration status for the new category of licenses;
  • List the identity documents illegal aliens could use to apply for licenses, including foreign passports and foreign drivers’ licenses that can be expired by up to two years;
  • Make essentially all identifying information in a driving record, and any documents used to apply for a license, no longer public, requiring even law enforcement to get a court order, search warrant or subpoena to access them from DMV; and
  • Require DMV to disclose to the license-holder if any of their records or information is sought by federal immigration authorities.

The open-borders groups the Center for Popular Democracy and the National Immigration Law Center estimate that the bill would make 752,000 illegal aliens in New York eligible for licenses, of which 265,000 could be expected to actually receive one within three years.  Multiple recent polls indicate that between 57 and 61 percent of New York voters oppose the idea, while as few as 34 percent may actually support it.

State Senator Chris Jacobs (R-Buffalo), who as a former Erie County Clerk worked closely with DMV in issuing drivers’ licenses, quickly blasted both the bill and the Business Council for endorsing it, saying in a press release that the bill subverts state law, destroys DMV’s ability to work with law enforcement to keep New York’s roads safe, and “open[s] up a ‘Pandora’s box’ of voter fraud[.]”  The New York State Association of Police Chiefs, the Association of County Clerks as well as many other local elected officials outside New York City have lined up against it as well.

But not to be sidelined by big business, now big labor, too, has come out in support of the Green Light Bill.  On June 3 it received the blessing of Local 1199 of the Service Employees International Union (1199SEIU).  Also known as United Healthcare Workers East, 1199SEIU is the largest healthcare workers’ union in the country, with nearly 450,000 members by its own estimate.  With a budget of over $185 million and through a combination of lobbying and campaign donations, it’s become so influential and powerful in state politics over the past decade or so that it’s been called “The Union That Rules New York.”

After the Business Council endorsement, one observer noted that “the Senate appears to lack the votes to pass the license bill at this time, with some suburban and upstate lawmakers fearing a political backlash if they vote for it.”  It’s even been rumored that Governor Andrew Cuomo (D), while publicly supporting the bill, had privately been telling those undecided lawmakers to kill it.  But while it’s unclear so far if the union endorsement has changed any of that, it’s certainly possible.

Sen. Rob Ortt (R-Lockport) described the whole situation as “nothing more than the Albany establishment at its finest.”

New York’s legislature is scheduled to adjourn its regular session on June 19.  Although the Green Light bill could be “carried over” to a future session, this latest push indicates that legislators intend to ram it through before they leave Albany.

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Trump’s Negotiations With Mexico Delivered a Big Win

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House Passes Mass Amnesty Bill

Democrats Introduce Homeland Security Funding Bill to Gut Immigration Enforcement

‘ICE-Lockout’ Bill Sails through the Illinois Legislature

EDITORS NOTE: This FAIR column is republished with permission. All rights reserved.

VIDEO: Islamization is not taking place in Germany?

An abridged version of an article from PI News, and written by MICHAEL STÜRZENBERGER

Translated by MissPiggy and much thanks for that!

Why aren’t there any Merkel bollard/Lego blocks? Muslims live safer here than the “Taxed to Max” begrudgingly tolerated old burdens without a “migration background” who before 2015, called themselves German.

Last Saturday, about three thousand Muslims carried out a “breaking of the fast” in Munich’s Luitpoldpark. With demonstrative public “praying”, flooded with light at night, with microphone sound and the praising of Allah as the greatest god. The video of the uncanny scenery was shot by a shocked Munich citizen and reminds us of the nightly marches of the National Socialists. After all, in both cases it’s all about public demonstrations of power. Among the participating Muslim organizations were the Turkish nationalist associations “DITIB” and “Islamic Community Millî Görüs” as well as the “Islamic Relief” interwoven with Muslim Brotherhoods.

The Islamic land seizure was organized by the Muslim Council of Munich, flanked by the Migration Advisory Board and supported by the Intercultural Office of the Social Department of the City of Munich. In the best of company, since Milli Görüs was banned in the modern Atatürk-Turkey because of extremist tendencies, but Erdogan abolished this after his assumption of power. In Germany, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution sees this organization as an anti-democratic understanding of the state and a rejection of Western democracies.

The Turkish leader has been talking for years about “leading Islam victoriously to the West”, sees Turkey as a “world power” that should “vaccinate Europe with Turkish culture”, so that the continent will soon be “Turkish”. Stocked in this manner, it will lead to enthusiastic visions like “My Führer, give us the order and we will smash Germany”. Erdogan as a little Hitler, whose Nazi Germany he himself has already named as a role model.

Officials of the Turkish colonization authority “DITIB” therefore see Erdogan as their “Supreme Army Commander”, to whom the DITIB junior staff here in Germany organizes pilgrimages. In the “Neue Züricher Zeitung”, this organization is ascribed the apt term “parallel partner”.

In the illustrious round of fundamentalist associations during this public breaking of the fast, “Islamic Relief” is also represented, which is regarded by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution as an institution in the action network of the Muslim Brotherhood. Right in the middle of it instead of just being there: Imam Bajrambejamin Idriz with his “Munich Forum for Islam”, one of the biggest spiders in the German Islamization Network:

?The tolerance drunk editor Pia Ratzesberger of the Süddeutsche Zeitung is pleased about the, in her eyes, “open” celebration and quotes from the political speech of the head-clothed Seyma Yüksel, member of the board of the Muslim Council, who complains about alleged “racism” and warns against “populist” parties which strengthened in the EU election:

She says into the microphone, “We have a problem and it’s called racism.” She talks about the European elections, about the populists and nationalists who have rejoined parliament. She talks about discrimination when looking for a job or an apartment. The Muslim Council in Munich is now offering a form with which any discrimination can be reported: “Because every incident that is not reported is a loss”. And there are many of them. The form is only available online now, but she has already collected more than a hundred cases in recent weeks, Yüksel says after her speech on the edge of the stage. Above all women with headscarves are attacked, insulted and pushed at bus stops, insulted on the street. Those who wear headscarves are abused every day, sometimes several times, says Seyma Yüksel. This is another reason why breaking the fast in Luitpoldpark is so important.

Totalitarian political Islam uses the terms “tolerance”, “welcome culture”, “diversity”, “participation” and “freedom of religion” propagated by the left mainstream of Western free societies in order to spread and creep into majority positions. Until Muslims can then finally step to the sole seizure of power that their “religion” compellingly prescribes to them.

As in 1933, Germany falls into the stranglehold of a fascist ideology and once again only a minority notices what is going on. When the catastrophe comes, many will again say that they “knew nothing” about it. History can repeat itself in a similar form, but does not have to. If all the people who know the facts now uncompromisingly and intensively strive to enlighten the still largely unsuspecting majority society, the apocalypse can still be stopped this time.

RELATED ARTICLE: Wyoming: Kahn Brothers Found Guilty in Drug Conspiracy Case

RELATED VIDEO: Ryan Mauro, Clarion’s national security analyst, exposes the Islamic Online University for what it really is – a jihadi training school!

VIDEO: You’ve Already Lost the Immigration Battle if You Say This. . .

Conditioned responses are funny things. One of them, the statement that they’re “probably all nice people” — oft used when discussing illegal migrants — is also a dangerous thing.

That very line was uttered, reflexively, by Fox News pundit Tucker Carlson Monday night while discussing how one percent of Guatemalans have left for our country in just the last year. It’s a qualifier reflecting that one has been put on the defensive — in a losing position.

No, this isn’t an attack on Carlson, who’s the best mainstream cable news and commentary host in the business. Rather, it’s a cautionary tale: That an intrepid culture warrior such as Carlson can be conditioned to behave defensively — when he should be unabashedly taking the offense (the best defense) — speaks volumes about the effectiveness of leftist conditioning.

Of course, the quoted statement is illogical. No large group contains members who are “all” nice people. Moreover, as Carlson himself pointed out last year, citing data from the U.S. Sentencing Commission (video below), illegals do, unsurprisingly, commit an inordinate amount of crime. Nice people?

Of course, it follows that those migrating illegally — making a conscious decision to violate another nation’s sovereignty and laws — would include an inordinate number of not-so-nice people.

That said, let me be clear: I couldn’t care less, and it’s wholly irrelevant, whether those invading our country are or aren’t Nice People™. I’m not God; my job isn’t to judge their souls. (Interestingly, many who’ll scold “Do not judge lest you be judged” when hearing others judge people as bad will themselves judge the same people as good. But if one can’t judge hearts, that would include positive judgments.)

I simply want them to stay the heck out of my country — and be expelled if they’ve already invaded.

If you can’t say this, unabashedly, you’ve already lost the migration debate. Realize that the Left, some in whose vanguard are master manipulators, has conned us into apologizing for doing what’s right, for enforcing just laws. But what other crime do we address so sheepishly, qualifying our opposition to it with notions that the perps are “just seeking a better life” and may be “nice people”? Why, I met counterfeiters who were nice people. What’s niceness got to do with it?

This is no small point. It’s safe to say that most of the German soldiers — being average young men conscripted into service — invading Poland in 1939 and the U.S.S.R. in ‘41 were “nice people.” Should they have been given blankets; lawyers; court dates; handouts; and, ultimately, invitations to stay?

Then, a family hosting me in France years ago one day brought me to the home of a friend who was a communist — but a nice person. (He really was. He had an easy smile and said he realized the ideology didn’t work, so perhaps he was a sort of theoretical communist.) I liked him, and do to this day, but I still wouldn’t want a few million like him in my country.

This is the point, too. “Nice” is irrelevant. Nice doesn’t save civilization. Nice never won a war, hot or cold, actual or cultural. Theological correctness informs that man is good by nature — though that nature is fallen — because he was made by God and for God. Reflecting this, most people want to do good, though often don’t know what good is. “Nice” is not unique.

And it’s neither good nor nice to invite into our midst people who, well intentioned or not, will irrevocably alter our culture for the worse, transforming our land into something more closely resembling what they left. Relevant here is that 70 to 90-plus percent of these illegals, not to mention the same percentage of (legal) immigrants, vote for leftists upon being naturalized (and sometimes before). Why do you think the Democrats want them here? Because they’re “nice”?

So let’s stop with the nice-illegals qualifier. It doesn’t matter if they’re nice, only that they’re here and not where they’re supposed to be: at home building up their own darn countries.

After all, if they can’t make their own lands better, why should we think they wouldn’t make ours worse?

Contact Selwyn Duke, follow him on Gab (preferably) or Twitter, or log on to SelwynDuke.com

Here Are The Republicans In Congress Standing With Trump Over Mexico Tariff Threat

A number of Republicans in the Senate are standing with President Donald Trump over his threat to apply tariffs to Mexico on Tuesday after several party members spoke out against it.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday that “there is not much support in my conference for tariffs” and he is hoping that the tariffs are not implemented. Other Senators also decided to speak out against Trump’s threat.

Utah Republican Sen. Mitt Romney said he will not support applying a tariff to Mexico, saying he “would not be inclined to vote [for] a tariff against a friend,” Politico reported Tuesday.

Oklahoma Sen. James Lankford reportedly also criticized Trump’s threat, saying the White House “is trying to use tariffs to solve every problem but HIV and climate change.”

However, a number of Republicans are in favor of applying tariffs to Mexico, such as Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who said in a tweet Wednesday:

I don’t generally like tariffs either. But what alternative do my GOP colleagues have to get #Mexico to secure its southern border, use the Isthmus of Tehuantepec to screen northbound rail cars & vehicles & act on intel we proved on human traffickers?

Republican North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis also defended Trump’s move, saying “I think it’s more likely the tariffs go on,” and that it would be “foolish” for Republicans to try to block the presidents move, in an appearance Tuesday on Fox News.

“I don’t think they’ll do that. If they do, it’s foolish. There is nothing more important than borders,” he continued.

Another senator who has supported Trump’s proposal to apply tariffs to Mexico, is Alabama Republican Sen. Richard Shelby. He told reporters on Capitol Hill Monday he is “not a tariff man,” but that he thinks “if it leads to a better trade agreement, I can understand his strategy.” Shelby also said, “well, if it doesn’t work you are right where you are. Probably have nothing to lose.”

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy defended Trump, according to the president, who tweeted a quote attributed to McCarthy.

RELATED ARTICLES:

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Another Obama-Era Official: Yes, There’s a Serious Crisis at the Southern Border

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Here Are The Seven House Republicans Who Voted For Amnesty Bill

EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. All rights reserved.

VIDEO: Leading the Battle Against Illegal Immigration

In this edition of “Judicial Watch On Issue,” Senior Attorney James Peterson explains the issue of illegal immigration & its impact on the United States.

Mexican Cartels Among Greatest Criminal, National Security, Public Health Threat to U.S.

Mexican drug cartels have headquarters throughout the United States and are one of the country’s greatest criminal, national security and public health threats, according to a veteran Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) senior agent pushing the federal government to designate them as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTO).

“The Mexican cartels have left a trail of blood using intimidation and terrorist acts of ruthless violence,” said Derek S. Maltz, a narco-terror expert who helped establish the Counter Narco-Terrorism Operations Center (CNTOC) before retiring from the DEA. The CNTOC has busted many bigtime narco-terrorism operations, including a money laundering scheme that supported the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah.

“The cartels engage in beheadings, car bombings, dissolving humans in acid, mass murders, torture, bombings and political assassinations,” Maltz said. “Their actions are consistent with the behaviors of traditional terrorists and they have infiltrated the highest levels of the Mexican government with bribes and corruption.” The former DEA agent added that “Mexican drug cartels have utilized techniques which focus on mind manipulation and behavioral modification commonly utilized by organizations such as Al-Qaeda.”

The troubling details were delivered during recent testimony before the Ohio legislature, where Maltz made a powerful case for designating Mexican drug cartels as FTOs. Following a massive bust of the notorious Sinaloa Cartel in the Buckeye State, a resolution was introduced to get the federal government to make the change so that it may use “appropriate means to mitigate and eventually eliminate the operations of the cartels.”

Last week a criminal justice committee heard testimony as the resolution  advances in the Ohio legislature. Maltz was a key expert witness, telling the panel that cartels “have major hubs in Southern California, Arizona, Chicago, Texas, New York and Atlanta” and have “expanded into South Florida.”

The resolution states that Transitional Criminal Organizations (TCO) based in Mexico (drug cartels) are responsible for the flow of opioids across the border into the United States and Ohio and that they are also responsible for the proliferation of human trafficking in the United States, particularly Ohio, as part and parcel of their drug trafficking operations.

The measure points out that drug cartels conduct operations on U.S. soil in furtherance of drug and human trafficking and that abuse of opioids and human trafficking are direct threats to the economy, well-being and overall vitality of the state of Ohio and its citizens. “The acting administrator of the United States Drug Enforcement Administration, Uttam Dhillon, recently declared Mexican drug trafficking organizations are the biggest criminal threat the United States faces today,” the Ohio resolution states.

The measure further points out that the Immigration and Nationality Act authorizes the U.S. Secretary of State, in consultation with the Secretary of the Treasury and the Attorney General, to designate an organization as an FTO when certain criteria are met. Drug cartels meet the criteria, Ohio lawmakers assert, because they are foreign in nature, engage in or retain the capability and intent to engage in terrorism and threaten the security of American citizens and the national defense, foreign relations and economic interests of the United States.

Judicial Watch made parallel arguments in a White Paper published earlier this year. In it, Judicial Watch’s investigative team provides comprehensive documentation that Mexican drug cartels, notoriously sophisticated criminal operations, undoubtedly meet the U.S. government’s requirements to be designated FTOs.

The criteria for FTO designation require that organizations be foreign, engage in terrorism or terrorist activity or possess the capability and intent to do so and pose a threat to U.S. nationals or U.S. national security. Mexican drug cartels are inherently foreign, routinely commit criminal acts within the statutory definition of terrorism and arguably represent a more immediate and ongoing threat to U.S. national security than any of the currently-designated FTOs on the State Department list.

EDITORS NOTE: This Judicial Watch column is republished with permission.