Tag Archive for: border crisis

States Put Billions Toward Illegal Immigrants at Taxpayer Expense: Expert

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As of June 2023, some immigration experts estimated that roughly 17 million illegal immigrants resided in the U.S., with at least 16% of the population arriving under the Biden administration. While migrants from all over the world cite many reasons for coming, one of the biggest is that illegal immigrants are getting several benefits when they arrive. Many have argued that the well-being of those who are here illegally seems to be prioritized over those who are here legally.

Several sanctuary cities offer migrants free housing, food, schooling, and medical care. States such as California have gone as far as to provide free gender transition procedures for illegal immigrants. Other states that are running out of space have asked residents to open up their own homes to undocumented individuals and families. Several airports, schools, and hotels that American citizens use as part of their daily lives have even been transformed into shelters.

Some have argued it’s hard to ignore the rise in crimes such as robbery, murder, and threats of terrorism that the wide open border welcomes. Among Christians, this crisis has sparked a conversation as to how to go about this chaos in a loving manner. But while all of these concerns are worth addressing, there is another group facing the consequences of Biden’s lack of border control ?” namely, U.S. taxpayers.

Ira Mehlman, media director at the Federation for American Immigration Reform, shared on “Washington Watch with Tony Perkins” on Tuesday that there’s an estimated $150.7 billion burden on taxpayers, which is directly tied to the illegal immigration. As a result of Democratic policies, Mehlman said the illegals showing up in the sanctuary cities are “entitled” to the services, which “costs a lot of money.” He added that the money needed to take care of the migrants is “money that the [states don’t] have to begin with.”

Mehlman highlighted that cities like New York chose to cut down on education and police budgets in order to spend money on the migrants. NYC budgeted $12 billion “between now and the end of 2025,” he explained. “New York is now spending more on care of the migrants than they are spending on police, fire, and sanitation combined.”

Additionally, Mehlman noted that one of the ways taxpayers are getting the short end of the stick is through the health care system. “Under the Affordable Care Act, illegal aliens were not eligible for taxpayer-subsidized health insurance programs. And that was deliberate,” he said. “Now, you have states like California … deciding that they are going to use state taxpayer money in order to subsidize health care for illegal aliens.”

Mehlman described a lot of what’s happening as “self-induced crises.” But the states facing the consequences of their own policies then “turn around and ask everybody else to bail them out.” And the issue with that, he said, is that “whether the money is coming out of state … local coffers, or … from the federal government, it’s still the people’s money. It’s our hard earned dollars.”

Ultimately, taxes are “supposed to be providing services for us,” he urged. “Instead, they’re taking this money and creating new magnets for people to come here and abuse the system.”

Tony Perkins, president of Family Research Council, pointed out that amid this financial fiasco, the Biden administration still wants to send “$60 billion over to Ukraine.” He concluded, “Let’s shut off the border [and] we might have a little extra money to work with.”

AUTHOR

Sarah Holliday

Sarah Holliday is a reporter at The Washington Stand.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Washington Stand column is republished with permission. All rights reserved. ©2024 Family Research Council.

The Washington Stand is Family Research Council’s outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand is based in Washington, D.C. and is published by FRC, whose mission is to advance faith, family, and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview. We invite you to stand with us by partnering with FRC.

How Much Crime and Chaos Will It Take for Biden to ‘Address This Disaster’ at the Border?

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Laken Riley was a 22-year-old nursing student at the University of Georgia. She was known as a person who was caring, driven, and the definition of a “true friend.” But when Riley went on a jog Thursday morning, she faced a brutal, untimely death.

Jose Antonio Ibarra, an illegal immigrant, has been accused of murdering the young student after “disfiguring” her skull. As Fox News reported, Ibarra “is charged with the felonies of malice murder, murder, kidnapping, false imprisonment, aggravated assault, aggravated battery and concealing the death of another, as well as the misdemeanor of physically hindering a 911 call.”

In its story covering the incident Monday, CNN claimed “there is little evidence indicating a connection between immigration and crime,” but a variety of experts and statistics definitively say otherwise.

On Monday’s episode of “Washington Watch with Tony Perkins,” Todd Bensman, senior national security fellow for the Center for Immigration Studies, said, “[W]e do need to keep in mind … that the mass migration crisis at the southern border is the ultimate stranger danger.”

He continued, “[It’s] virtually impossible to verify criminal histories of even a tiny fraction of all of the millions of people that have crossed in over that border” — a number that has skyrocketed since the Biden administration has been in office. And yet, Biden and his team have repeatedly denied that the 10 million of illegal immigrants who’ve flooded into the U.S. since his inauguration is a crisis. But Family Research Council President Tony Perkins wondered: Could Riley’s murder “finally spur this administration to address this disaster of their own making?”

Bensman and Perkins discussed the shift from immigrants who came to America mostly from Mexico and Central America to now “it’s the entire world coming across the southern border,” Perkins said. Bensman noted that we now “have the greatest percentages in American history coming over that border from 170 countries other than Mexico and Central America.”

He added that there are more Chinese than Mexicans coming into the country, with at least 45,000 in the last 36 months. There are “350 people from Muslim majority countries who are on the FBI’s terrorism watch list. … People coming from every nation on the continent of Africa, including places where there are tribal conflicts with atrocities and warlords,” he explained. “… [W]ho knows who’s coming over that border? They just say, ‘My name is Mickey Mouse,’ and we let them in.”

While the Left claims there isn’t a connection between illegal immigration and increased crime, Bensman contended that the cities facing the highest amount of migrants, particularly sanctuary cities, are seeing “new kinds of crime” as people come to the states and are unable to provide for themselves.

“Far too many crimes should not have ever happened, because those people should have never been here,” he said. But part of the issue, Bensman emphasized, is that the process for these illegal immigrants entering the country is too simple. Not only can they enter the U.S. far too easily, but once they’re in, they’re supposed to “voluntarily report into an [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] office later,” which he emphasized “statistics and data” reveal “the vast majority of them never report in.”

Ultimately, he added, “When somebody is arrested for a criminal act, we are supposed to call ICE. But in the sanctuary cities, they don’t call ICE. They have a ban on calling ICE. There’s nothing more immoral [to them] than calling ICE on a criminal arrested in any of these cities.” But then, as a consequence to this way of thinking, the result is a seemingly endless cycle of crime.

Perkins asked, “What benefits are illegal immigrants getting when they come into the country?” Bensman replied, “Everything.”

He elaborated that when someone comes into this country illegally, in many cases, they get “100% support” in terms of housing, food, transportation, school, clothing, and medical care. “For example,” he said, “in Chicago, each immigrant is getting $7,000 cash a year” and other needs. Additionally, there are several ways they can work “illegally and fraudulently.”

As Representative Mike Simpson (R-Idaho) summarized: “The Biden administration’s open-border policies have fueled crime, undermined public safety and overwhelmed our federal, state and local law enforcement officers. … Illegal entry into our nation is perceived as commonplace, and it is conducted with little fear of consequences. That must change, both for the security of our nation and to help restore the dignity and importance of legal immigration in the eyes of all Americans. This crisis is fixable. President Biden must reverse his misguided policies so Congress can work to resolve our broken immigration system.”

AUTHOR

Sarah Holliday

Sarah Holliday is a reporter at The Washington Stand.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Washington Stand column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

U.S. Part of a ‘Cash Bonanza’ That’s Paying Illegals to Cross the Border: Report

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Is the U.S. bankrolling our own border invasion? That’s what an explosive new report from The Epoch Times suggests. While Americans struggle to pay for shelter, medical care, food, and schooling for the migrants who’ve been bussed to major cities, we may also be footing the bill for their journey here. “We’re actually funding our own border crisis,” the Center for Immigration Studies’ Todd Bensman warned. And most taxpayers have no clue.

While the Biden administration has been all too willing to throw open the gates to illegal crossers, their biggest contribution to the crisis is through the U.N., where this president has been funneling hundreds of millions of dollars to agencies sabotaging our border. The International Office for Migration (IOM), for instance, which is part of the U.N., had been raking in about a half-billion dollars before 2021. Now, alarmed experts say, that funding “has skyrocketed” to an eye-popping $1.3 billion in 2023 — double what it was under Donald Trump.

Why is that a problem? Because that money, investigations have shown, is being handed out directly to migrants who want to cross the border illegally. “People who might not have taken the risk to travel to the U.S., because they were worried about food or safety now have help,” Bensman points out. “That help,” The Epoch Times notes, “comes in the form of prepaid debit cards, food, water, shelter, medical care, and transportation.” In most cases, these migrants are “directly” receiving cash — “what the U.N. emergency manual calls ‘cash in envelopes.’”

Bensman went to Mexico to see with his own two eyes whether this was actually happening. In 2021, his tweet of migrants in long lines for U.N. debit cards went viral. “The IOM workers said a … family of four gets about $800 a month.” Most of this, he told The Epoch Times, “[is] provided by, ultimately, the United States taxpayer.”

They have money — and something just as dangerous: motivation. They know the border is wide open, Bensman points out. “They say, ‘Well, you know, we’re coming now because Biden’s letting us in.’” The reality is, “People respond to the signals that are being sent,” Ian Mehlman, spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), argued. “If they believe that there is a good chance that they’re going to be able to get to the United States and be allowed to remain here, then they will go through all the things that they have to go through.”

Meanwhile, people tracking the money say that a majority of it comes from the State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration, which, ironically, is responsible for processing and resettling people requesting refugee status. But, as experts point out, millions of dollars are going to migrants — most of whom don’t qualify as refugees — long before they step foot on American soil.

All of this is propped up by the U.N.’s own efforts, which is siphoning off donations from U.S. taxpayers to overrun their own borders. One program is “allocate[ing] $372 million in ‘cash and vouchers’ and ‘multipurpose cash assistance’ during 2024 for 624,300 migrants — the population of Detroit — in Central and South America who are headed for the U.S. border.”

With America’s help, Bensman wants people to know, the U.N. is “aiding and abetting mass migration.” Just last month, the IOM announced that it’s upping the ante to $7.9 billion to “[realize] migration’s promise as a force for good throughout the world.” IOM’s director general, Amy Pope, in her plea to member nations, even claimed that the kind of migration the U.S. is experiencing, “when well-managed, is a major contributor to global prosperity and progress.”

She’s also been speaking that into the ear of Joe Biden for years, since, as The Epoch Times points out, she served as the president’s senior advisor on migration and as deputy Homeland Security advisor to Barack Obama. It’s no coincidence that the person incentivizing these mass border crossings has direct ties to the White House, where she’s used her perch at the U.N. to extract more money from the overly generous United States.

Raising even more eyebrows, the report points to a stunning number of political appointees who share Pope’s radical views. That alone, experts say, shows that the crisis is intentionally “engineered.”

Illegal immigration “is a big business for the Biden administration,” Mehlman points out. “There’s no question that we saw a vast increase in migration to the United States, starting from the day that Joe Biden took office. … It’s happening because people are allowing it to happen. It is being facilitated every step along the way.” Largely, Bensman shakes his head, because of these giveaways, this U.S.-backed “cash bonanza.”

The U.N. seems to believe that “people should be able to move to any country they desire,” regardless of the laws they’re violating, or the havoc they wreak on those societies, or the devastation they do to the nations they’re fleeing. “If the incentive is to leave rather than to reform and change things where you are,” Bensman warns, “then those failed societies continue.”

Republicans, and a surprising number of Democrats, realize that this self-funded invasion is destroying our country from within. They’ve played hardball on the Ukraine bill, impeached Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas in a historic vote, and, most recently, threatened to cut his salary if DHS’s reports on the exploding border numbers continue to be late. But the reality is a harsh one: Americans are unknowingly fueling the crisis.

“The United Nations is using our own tax dollars against us,” Rep. Lance Gooden (R-Texas) fumed in January, “and U.S. policymakers can no longer stand by while elites in the U.N. actively financing an invasion of our sovereign territory.”

And frankly, as outrageous as it is that Americans are unknowingly paying people to break our laws, it’s who we may be paying that should frighten people. An open border, Family Research Council President Tony Perkins argued, is an open invitation to terror. With 300 suspects of the Terror Watch List already captured on their way across, who knows how many slipped through — or worse, were simply released into our communities? “We may never know until they are encountered by law enforcement at a later date,” a Homeland Security agent anonymously told The Daily Caller. “Very well after it’s too late.”

“Lawlessness compounds lawlessness,” Rep. Josh Brecheen (R-Okla.) insisted on “Washington Watch.” He’s right. But even more infuriating is secretly underwriting lawlessness — at the literal expense of American security — knowing that until that stops, it can never be contained.

AUTHOR

Suzanne Bowdey

Suzanne Bowdey serves as editorial director and senior writer at The Washington Stand.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Washington Stand column is republished with permission. All rights reserved. ©2024 Family Research Council.

The Washington Stand is Family Research Council’s outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand is based in Washington, D.C. and is published by FRC, whose mission is to advance faith, family, and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview. We invite you to stand with us by partnering with FRC.

4 Biblical Principles to Inform Immigration Policy

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The ongoing crisis at the southern border remains a top concern for voters in the 2024 election and on Capitol Hill. Recent disagreements over the Senate’s border deal and the House impeachment of DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas underscore the range of opinions — good, bad, and ugly — on securing the border and demonstrate how even likeminded legislators can disagree about the best approach.

God’s Word instructs Christians to be “transformed by the renewal of your mind.” In part, this means that a Christian’s thoughts about every issue should be shaped and informed by a biblical worldview. Christians will not necessarily agree on issues that call for the application of wisdom, or to which Scripture does not speak clearly. However, applying biblical principles can at least enable us to rule out patently unbiblical ideas and approach much closer to a prudent outcome.

Immigration policy is just such a wisdom issue. While the Bible has a lot to say on the subject, it doesn’t clearly define what is a “moral” immigration policy. However, it does provide clear principles that can help to inform our approach to immigration policy. In pursuit of biblical wisdom on immigration, here are four applicable biblical principles.

1. All people are made in the image of God.

Scripture teaches that “God created man in his own image” (Genesis 1:27). Bearing God’s image endows every human being with inherent dignity, which cannot be taken away through economic hardship, social isolation, moral corruption, or anything else.

God himself applies this foundational truth as an argument against murder in Genesis 9:6, “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.” Where human justice fails, God himself will exact justice on those who wickedly destroy the precious life of a fellow image-bearer. He warned, “from his fellow man I will require a reckoning for the life of man” (Genesis 9:5).

Due to the self-centered corruption of human nature, human justice most often fails in cases where the victim is vulnerable, whether through physical weakness, economic poverty, or social isolation. God most especially promises to look out for those who have no one else to look out for them. In the agricultural economy of ancient Israel, that included orphans, widows, and sojourners. Thus, we read that God not only “watches over” and “upholds” the vulnerable (Psalm 146:9), but also that “He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing” (Deuteronomy 10:18).

In response to God’s concern for the vulnerable, the Mosaic covenant instructed Israel to care for them, but most of the applications were personal rather than corporate. The Mosaic law’s only government-oriented directive concerning sojourners, in particular, is, “You shall not pervert the justice due to the sojourner” (Deuteronomy 24:17, see Deuteronomy 27:19). Of course, perverting justice is always wrong.

In lieu of a state-run welfare system, individual Israelites were instructed not to reap the gleanings of their grape and grain harvests, but “leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the Lord your God” (Leviticus 19:10, 23:22, see Deuteronomy 24:19-21). It was assumed that sojourners would be welcomed into their homes (Leviticus 25:6, see Job 31:32), share in their feasts (Deuteronomy 16:14), and benefit from their tithes, “that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands that you do” (Deuteronomy 14:29).

Again, these directives did not stipulate a national immigration policy, but rather instructed individual Israelites to treat individual immigrants who dwelt near them as human beings, ensuring that care was taken for their basic needs. While the details might look different in a different society, organized around a different type of economy, the underlying principle, rooted as it is in a recognition of human dignity as image-bearers, carries forward to our day more or less intact.

However, the Bible gives no indication how much of this principle applies to governments. Thus, likeminded Christians will likely disagree, for instance, on how much responsibility the U.S. government bears for caring for the humanitarian needs of migrants who appear at the southern border in the middle of a vast desert.

2. All people are sojourners.

God paired commands to “love the sojourner,” “not wrong a sojourner,” and “not oppress a sojourner” with a reminder to the Israelites that, “you were sojourners in the land of Egypt” (Exodus 22:21, 23:9, Deuteronomy 10:19). The principle behind the argument appears to be this: you should have compassion on the sojourner because you know what it’s like to be one. Obviously, most of us have never been sojourners in Egypt, so there isn’t a direct correlation.

However, in a more general sense, we are all sojourners. Near the end of his life, King David confessed to God, “We are strangers before you and sojourners, as all our fathers were. Our days on the earth are like a shadow, and there is no abiding” (1 Chronicles 29:15). The span of our lives is brief, compared to eternity — so brief that an elderly David could say he was just passing through (something repeated in Psalms 39:12 and 119:19). The argument held true under the Mosaic law (Leviticus 25:23) and for both patriarchal (Hebrews 11:13-14) and new covenant (1 Peter 2:11) believers.

Admittedly, traveling through this life to eternity is not the same thing as leaving one’s homeland behind to live in another country. Many of us have an established family, home, church, job, community, and reputation; migrants crossing the border have none of those things (unless they brought their family with them).

But surely there are ways in which we can — or should be able to — sympathize with their plight. We, too, are vulnerable to death, disease, unemployment, crime, and injustice, despite our perceived security. So, the application of this principle is less direct, but that doesn’t mean it is no longer operative.

The application of this principle is so similar to the first I was tempted to combine them (but decided to keep them separate because they are based on distinct reasons). In fact, Moses combined them in Leviticus 19:33-34, “When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.”

Again, the command to not oppress a sojourner is primarily directed at individuals, as are the condemnation against the wicked who do oppress sojourners (see Psalm 94:6, Jeremiah 7:6, Ezekiel 22:7, Malachi 3:5). How much of it applies to government policy on a border thousands of miles away is a matter of wisdom.

3. Laws apply equally to all people.

A third biblical principle is that laws apply equally to all people — including sojourners. This is stated clearly in Leviticus 24:22, “You shall have the same rule for the sojourner and for the native, for I am the Lord your God.” God is just, and justice involves treating like things alike and unlike things differently. The implication of this principle is, when it comes to applications of moral law, all human beings are alike, no matter where they come from.

The immediate context of this statement (Leviticus 24:10-23) concerned punishments for blasphemy, murder, destruction of property, and personal injury. The principle also appeared in prohibitions against sexual immorality (Leviticus 18:26), child sacrifice (Leviticus 20:2), eating blood (Leviticus 17:11-15), and idolatry (Ezekiel 14:7-8). It appeared in the fourth commandment’s command to rest on the Sabbath (Exodus 20:10, Deuteronomy 5:14). It applied to due process rights for involuntary manslaughter (Numbers 35:15, Joshua 20:9), purification rituals (Numbers 19:10), and the curses and blessings of the covenant (Joshua 8:33).

America has different laws than ancient Israel, but there is no reason why the same general principle shouldn’t still hold true: laws should apply to all people, and no one should be exempt from the effects of the law.

Currently, U.S. law only allows people to enter the country with proper paperwork at legal points of entry, with an exception for those who can prove a legitimate claim for asylum. U.S. law further stipulates that those who enter the country illegally must be detained until the outcome of their case is determined. While all U.S. citizens and residents of some other countries can obtain the proper paperwork, the law puts restrictions on how many citizens of other countries may receive authorization to enter the United States.

Christians can have different opinions about whether current U.S. immigration law is just or unjust, prudent or imprudent, acceptable or in desperate need of reform. What they should be able to agree on is that, unless a law is flagrantly immoral, that law ought to be observed and enforced equally on all people until it is amended.

4. Government has a duty to protect.

The Bible teaches that the government has a duty to protect its people from those who would attack and harm them. A wicked ruler is “like a roaring lion or a charging bear,” tearing and devouring, consuming for his own benefit. A good ruler acts like a good shepherd, delivering his flock from the lion and bear (1 Samuel 17:34-35). If necessary, he even “lays down his life for the sheep” (John 10:11).

This duty of protection is a function of all God-given authority, if used well, from a husband and father’s duty to protect his family from destitution, to a pastor’s duty to protect the church from false teachers, to an employer’s duty to protect the well-being of his employees.

The duty of protection is particularly applicable to temporal government, whose rulers “bear the sword” and protect in the most literal sense (Romans 13:4). When God established rulers over his people — first judges and then kings — protecting the people of Israel from foreign enemies was a major part of their job description.

That same duty to protect also applies to governments of modern nations. That is the whole purpose of militaries and police forces. That is also the purpose of patrolling the border and constructing barriers along it. Border Patrol does not exist to help foreigners enter the country; it exists to keep out foreigners who want to harm Americans.

Given the dangerous world we live in, it’s not difficult to imagine people who fall into this category. Cartels traffic deadly opioids across the border, not to mention human beings. Extremist terrorist organizations send agents to kill and injure Americans in mass casualty events. Agents of foreign governments cross into the country, to spy if not to do worse.

Conclusion

These biblical principles are just the tip of the iceberg. They barely begin to address questions like: is immigration good or bad? Does the government have an obligation to consider the hazards run by migrants before they even reach our border? How much assimilation is required?

However, I pray that they provide a starting point to help you, dear reader, inform your outlook on immigration policy with a biblical worldview, instead of just accepting the un-nuanced opinions peddled in the world. I pray that they help you engage others on the issue in a wise and loving way and leave room for differences of opinion on tertiary issues, in favor of unity on the main thing, the gospel of Jesus Christ.

AUTHOR

Joshua Arnold

Joshua Arnold is a senior writer at The Washington Stand.

EDITORS NOTE: This Washington Stand column is republished with permission. All rights reserved. ©2024 Family Research Council.

The Washington Stand is Family Research Council’s outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand is based in Washington, D.C. and is published by FRC, whose mission is to advance faith, family, and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview. We invite you to stand with us by partnering with FRC.

China Continues Funding Iran, Russia as Regime Sends Nationals through Southern Border

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As the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) continues buying Iranian oil and helping Russia fund its war with Ukraine, Xi Jinping’s regime appears to be sending nationals into the United States through the porous southern border via at least one secretive camp deep in the Panamanian jungle.

During the February 2 episode of “The Tucker Carlson Podcast,” libertarian podcaster and author Bret Weinstein described a recent trip he took to the Darién Gap, a dense, rugged, mountainous jungle without roads in southern Panama in which migrants from South America hoping to make it to the U.S. must pass through. While touring some of the “transit camps” where migrants ready themselves for the trip north, Weinstein noted that “people are coming from the Middle East. We met Afghans, we met people from the Caribbean, Haitians, people from Yemen, Iran. It’s shocking, really. This looks superficially like the migration of Central Americans … but that’s not the whole story.”

Weinstein went on to describe a transit camp at San Vicente, which was “almost entirely Chinese.” He noted that unlike at other camps that he visited, he was not allowed to enter the San Vicente camp and interact with people. However, he was able to interact with a few of the Chinese nationals outside the camp. “They are the opposite of forthcoming,” he explained. “They have no interest in talking to outsiders. … It is not a friendly migration. These Chinese folks [were] overwhelmingly male, military age. … There were few if any children in the Chinese migration. [Children] were everywhere in the other places we visited.”

“The sense of … hostility that I felt from the Chinese was particularly unsettling given that I know where they’re headed. … They’re headed to the U.S.,” Weinstein underscored. “… I believe their government has some reason to facilitate [this].”

Meanwhile, Radio Free Europe published a report in January detailing how China clandestinely buys oil from Iran. It describes how a “dark fleet” of oil tankers off the shores of Singapore exchange cargo. “The fleet has grown steadily over the past five years, delivering Iranian crude to China as the countries work in concert to circumvent international sanctions that target Tehran’s lucrative oil exports,” the report describes.

As has been firmly established, the Islamist regime of Iran is the “foremost state sponsor” of a host of international terrorist organizations, including Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, and more.

Recently, Senator Kevin Cramer (R-S.D.) joined “Washington Watch with Tony Perkins” to describe how China is helping to bankroll America’s adversaries, even as the Biden administration continues to make friendly overtures with the communist regime.

“[T]hey’re able to sell Iranian oil to China … on the black market,” he noted. “[T]hey sell to these ‘teapot refineries,’ which are sort of off the grid, but not really off the grid, and we look the other way. This is all part of playing nice, but we’re playing nice with two enemies when we should be sanctioning that oil like Donald Trump did. We should be protecting that oil from even getting to China.”

Cramer continued, “We need to be much more assertive about our economic sanctions, oil sanctions, the trade between these enemy countries and make it darn hard on them to collaborate with one another and to fund their terror. And at the same time, places like North Dakota and Texas and Oklahoma and a whole bunch of other places [like] Alaska have plenty of clean oil that is produced by good, free people [who are] happy to sell around the world and not fund terrorism with it.”

Perkins pointed out that “many U.S. companies are investing in Chinese technology, and they’re aiding the CCP.”

“[T]he fact that we haven’t learned this lesson yet is shame on us,” Cramer concurred. “[D]ecades ago, when we let China into [the World Trade Organization] and gave them favored nation status, that happened with the hope that they’d become more like us. Well, all they’ve done is exploited us with our own weakness. But the fact that Wall Street and our own corporate citizens are still drawn to that incredible market because they love the cash more than anything, or the fact that we still import cheap stuff from China that is made with slave labor in some cases — certainly unfair labor, certainly unfair conditions, certainly much more polluting factories. … The fact that we still allow it at all is mind-numbing to me, and we’ve got to do a lot more.”

In December, Cramer joined Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and six other senators in introducing the Iran China Accountability Act, which “would block any taxpayer dollars from being used to advance an Iran nuclear agreement until they terminate cash ties with China and terminate ties to terrorist groups such as Hamas.”

AUTHOR

Dan Hart

Dan Hart is senior editor at The Washington Stand.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Washington Stand column is republished with permission. All rights reserved. ©2024 Family Research Council.

The Washington Stand is Family Research Council’s outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand is based in Washington, D.C. and is published by FRC, whose mission is to advance faith, family, and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview. We invite you to stand with us by partnering with FRC.

Senate Republicans Block Border Bill

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Senate Republicans blocked the border security bill from advancing Wednesday after significant pushback.

A motion to proceed on the bill failed 49-50. Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, James Lankford of Oklahoma and Mitt Romney of Utah voted to pass the legislation.

A handful of Democrats also voted no. Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders opposed the military aid to Israel while Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey, Elizabeth Warren and New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez also voted in opposition.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said he would move to put a package on the floor focusing on foreign aid for Ukraine, Israel and other initiatives that do not include border security.

The Senate released the long-awaited text of a border package in exchange for Ukraine aid. The bill would appropriate $48 billion to Ukraine, and nearly $16 billion to Israel and fund border security measures. Among the border provisions include more funds for hiring new immigration judges to expedite the processing of asylum and deportation proceedings as well as law enforcement to detain and remove illegal migrants.

The bill includes a provision that says the border can remain open so long as less than 5,000 migrants enter daily. Under the bill, authorities can remove migrants without removal proceedings if the week-long average of entries increases to more than 5,000 per day. The process would continue until the two-week average number of illegal entries decreases to 3,750 persons per day.

House Republicans have indicated it would be dead on arrival, arguing it doesn’t do enough to secure the border.

AUTHOR

BRIANNA LYMAN

News and commentary writer.

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‘Your Obligation, Your Duty’: 14 GOP Governors Gather To Support Texas’ Right To Protect Its Borders

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Thirteen Republican governors attended a Sunday media briefing in Eagle Pass, Texas during which Governor Greg Abbott urged President Joe Biden to take action on the issue of illegal migrant entries along the southern U.S. border, CBS News reported.

Abbott intensified his clash with the Biden administration over runaway immigration issues, demanding immediate action to stem the flow of illegal migrants across the southern border, according to the outlet.

Abbott’s critique of Biden’s handling of border security was unreserved. He accused the administration of neglecting its duties, emphasizing the onus now falls squarely on the federal government to uphold the nation’s laws.

“Joe Biden, it is your turn now — your obligation, your duty, to follow the laws Congress passed and secure the border, just as Texas has,” Abbott stated.

The confrontation has been brewing for some time, with Texas taking unilateral steps to curb illegal crossings. State authorities controversially restricted U.S. Border Patrol access to Shelby Park in Eagle Pass in January. Abbott also attributes a significant drop in local illegal entries to Texas’ extendive deployment of razor wire barriers, asserting their effectiveness in securing the border area, the outlet reported.

Abbott didn’t hesitate to invoke constitutional rights in defense of his actions while also accusing Biden of facilitating unauthorized entry into the country. This sentiment was echoed by Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who criticized the federal government’s inaction, which compels states to take matters into their own hands, CBS News noted.

“Because of his failures, Governor Abbott is having to step up, governors from across the country are having to step up and do the job of the federal government because they simply won’t,” Sanders stated, according to CBS News.

The Texas governor was joined by Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, Idaho Governor Brad Little, Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb, Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds, Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry, Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves, Missouri Governor Mike Parson, Montana Governor Greg Gianforte, Nebraska Governor Jill Pillen, New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee and Utah Governor Spencer Cox, according to a release by Abbott’s office.

AUTHOR

MARIANE ANGELA

Contributor

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Arizona Election Law May Enable Non-Citizens To Vote In 2024 Presidential Election, Experts Warn

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One of the most important states in the 2024 presidential election has a loophole in its election procedures that could allow non-citizens to cast federal election ballots, experts told the Daily Caller.

Democratic Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes crafted the state’s Election Procedures Manual (EPM) to permit individuals whose citizenship cannot be verified to register as a “federal-only” voter and cast ballots in upcoming elections.

READ THE MANUAL:

“An otherwise eligible registrant who does not submit DPOC (proof of citizenship) and whose U.S. citizenship cannot be verified via AZMVD records or other record in the statewide voter registration database is registered as a ‘federal-only’ voter. A ‘federal-only’ voter is eligible to vote solely in races for federal office in Arizona (including the Presidential Preference Election (PPE)),” the EPM says on page three of its first chapter.

Hans von Spakovsky, a senior legal fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation, told the Daily Caller he believes Arizona’s two-tiered voter registration system could enable illegal migrants to vote in the upcoming elections.

“I think it’s absolutely a possibility because if you aren’t requiring proof of citizenship, you’re simply going on people’s word that oh yeah I’m a U.S. citizen, you’re going to get aliens who register and who vote,” von Spakovsky told the Caller.

“The Justice Department, they don’t prosecute these cases, even though it’s a felony under federal law for an alien to register and vote,” he continued. “Aliens have an incentive, a voter registration card, which you get when you register, that’s a gateway for getting other kinds of ID.”

He referenced the I-9 form employers are mandated by the federal government to fill out and the fact that it allows individuals to use a voter registration card to establish their identity.

Ken Cuccinelli, a former top official at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and national chairman of the Election Transparency Initiative (ETI) expressed similar concerns in a statement to the Caller.

“Adrian Fontes could have used his elections procedures manual to help close the decade-old loophole regarding non-citizen voting in Arizona elections. Instead, he made it even worse — allowing non-citizens and individuals who have failed to prove their U.S. citizenship to vote in the Presidential Preference Election in 2024,” Cuccinelli said.

“Meaning, the same illegal aliens who have flooded across our open border at unprecedented levels in recent years could help decide the winner of the state’s Republican presidential primary in March. Because the manual is exempt from legislative review, we should expect nothing less from the most radical, far-left administration in the history of Arizona state government.”

The EPM cites the 2013 Supreme Court ruling in Arizona v. Inter Tribal Council of Arizona, a case brought by left-wing organizations challenging Arizona’s law requiring verification of citizenship in order to register to vote. The justices ruled in a 7-2 decision that the National Voter Registration Act preempted Arizona’s citizenship verification law, leading to the creation of the state’s two-tiered voting system.

“The National Voter Registration Act requires that States ‘accept and use’ voter registration forms created by the federal government. The federal form has a question about citizenship, but it only requires that a voter applicant swear under penalty of perjury that he is a citizen. It does not require the person to provide any documentary proof. Arizona law does require documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote. The Supreme Court has held that, for federal races, Arizona is required to accept the federal voter registration form and cannot impose any additional requirements, such as asking for proof of citizenship,” America First Legal (AFL) Senior Counsel James Rogers told the Caller.

“For state and local races, however, Arizona still has the power to require proof of citizenship. The result is that, in Arizona, voters have two options for registering to vote. Their first option is to fill out the state voter registration form, provide proof of citizenship, and then be able to cast a vote in federal, state, and local races. Their second option is that they can fill out the federal form, avoid providing proof of citizenship, and then only be able to cast a vote in federal races. This bifurcated system is unique to Arizona. More than 20,000 voters in Arizona have chosen to submit federal-only forms. These 20,000 people have thus avoided the requirement to prove their citizenship, but also given up the chance to vote in state or local races. It would be interesting to understand why these people have chosen to file federal-only forms, but it does not appear that anyone has ever investigated why,” he added.

Individuals will be registered as “federal only” voters if they submit a federal voter registration form and do not have the documentation required for verifying citizenship. Without verifying citizenship, a person cannot become registered for Arizona’s state-level elections.

If the County Recorder conducts a background check and cannot verify the registrant’s citizenship, the registrant “is entitled to be registered as a ‘federal-only’ voter based on the registrant’s sworn statement on the registration form that the registrant is a U.S. citizen. An otherwise valid voter registration form submitted to the County Recorder, but without accompanying DPOC, shall be accepted, entered into the database, and registered for federal elections,” the EPM states on page eight.

If the Arizona Department of Transportation, Motor Vehicle Department (AZMVD) records do not show the individual has a non-citizen authorized presence designation, such as an “F-Type” driver’s license, the person will be registered if they submit a sworn statement.

Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs and Attorney General Kris Mayes approved Fontes’ new EPM for Arizona’s elections in December. The EPM was last updated in 2019 when Hobbs was secretary of state and contained similar provisions about the “federal-only” voters.

In the 2022 midterm elections, Hobbs defeated Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake 50.3% to 49.7%, a margin of roughly 17,000 votes. Fontes became secretary of state after winning 52.4% to 47.6% over Republican candidate Mark Finchem in the most recent midterm elections.

In the 2020 presidential election, President Joe Biden defeated former President Donald Trump 49.36% to 49.06% in Arizona, a roughly 10,000 vote margin.

Trump is expected to be the 2024 Republican presidential nominee and run against Biden again in the November election. General election polls conducted in December show Trump leading Biden in the state, according to FiveThirtyEight.

Arizona’s illegal immigrant population peaked at an estimated 560,000 in 2008 before dropping by approximately 230,000 due to legislative measures designed to crack down on illegal migration, the Arizona Republic reported. The Migration Policy Institute estimated Arizona’s undocumented population to be 273,000 based on 2019 data.

An average of more than 1,300 migrants are crossing the state’s border each day as the Biden administration oversees record numbers of illegal migrants entering the U.S., NBC News reported in August.

Hobbs deployed the state’s national guard to the border in December to assist with stopping human trafficking and fentanyl smuggling after she requested reinforcements from the Biden administration and did not receive assistance. The federal government temporarily closed the Lukeville, Arizona, port of entry in December because of the illegal immigration surge and re-opened it in January, the Arizona Republic reported.

Border Patrol apprehended an estimated 18,900 migrants during the week of Dec. 8, the Border Patrol’s Tucson, Arizona, section chief said. Border Patrol agents from across the country were brought in to help process migrants “virtually” crossing Arizona’s border due to the migration spike, the Daily Caller News Foundation first reported.

Encounters at the southern border topped 2 million over the past two fiscal years, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) data shows.

“Non-citizens should not be registering and voting in American elections, period. Laws that require proof of citizenship to register and vote protect the integrity of elections. Unfortunately, liberal politicians and left-wing activists routinely attack the laws and safeguards that help states identify and stop non-citizen voting,” Honest Elections Project Executive Director Jason Snead told the Caller.

The Daily Caller reached out to Fontes’ office to ask for clarity on the loophole and whether or not it would enable non-citizens to vote in Arizona. They did not respond.

AUTHOR

JAMES LYNCH

Investigative reporter. James Lynch can be reached on Twitter @jameslynch32.

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Mayorkas Impeachment Effort Progresses as Urgency at Border Intensifies

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On Wednesday, the House Homeland Security Committee approved two articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for violating 12 immigration and border security laws. The move comes as traditional defenders of the Biden administration in the legacy media are now admitting that a “humanitarian crisis” is currently occurring at America’s southern border.

The articles of impeachment accuse Mayorkas of refusing to enforce multiple elements of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which requires that all illegal immigrants seeking admission be detained until they are granted asylum or parole. The articles note that Mayorkas instead “implemented a catch and release scheme … without effective mechanisms to ensure” that the migrants appear before the immigration court to determine if they can be lawfully admitted. The DHS secretary was also accused of making false statements to Congress when he claimed that “the border is secure” and that DHS had maintained “operational control” of the border.

House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green (R-Tenn.) stated that Mayorkas “refused to comply with the laws” and “has breached public trust,” commenting that he was “proud” to advance the articles. The Mayorkas impeachment now moves to a full House vote, with House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) declaring last week that the articles will be voted on “as soon as possible.”

The potential impeachment comes as the outlook on a Senate funding bill that would include provisions to tighten border security remains uncertain. On Tuesday, President Joe Biden claimed that he needs Congress to pass the bill in order for him to have the “power” to regain border control. But border and immigration experts say that Biden already has the power to regain control of the border through executive order by reinstating the Remain in Mexico policy, among other actions.

On Wednesday’s edition of “Washington Watch with Tony Perkins,” Rep. Gary Palmer (R-Ala.) contended that the Mayorkas impeachment articles were justified. “First of all, he committed a felony,” he observed. “He perjured himself in testimony before Congress multiple times. And I think he’s also failed to uphold his responsibilities, his sworn duty to faithfully enforce the laws of the nation.”

Palmer went on to detail what he saw during a recent visit to the southern border.

“I’ve been to the border multiple times, and literally my last trip, when 64 Republicans went down to the border in the first week of January, I broke away from the main group because I knew that the Border Patrol agents and local law enforcement would talk to me individually and say things that they wouldn’t say to the group while I was standing there,” he explained. “… As soon as [I] got to the riverbank, there [was] a group of men [that] came out from under the riverbank, waded across this little canal, and came up the bank right where I was standing. … They’re all young adult males from Venezuela and Honduras. For Mayorkas to say to the American people, much less to Congress under oath, with the threat of perjury, that the border secure, is…” Palmer shook his head.

He further described what happens when an individual presents themselves at the border.

“[The Biden administration has] thrown open the door. [Migrants] … turn themselves in to the Border Patrol. They’re processed, they’re given health care checkups, given cell phones. They’ll transport them wherever they want to go. Think about the 1.7 [million] gotaways. … [T]hat’s the thing that should frighten every American. We know we’ve interdicted 312 known or suspected terrorists on the terrorist watch list, but we have no idea who came across in that 1.7 million gotaways.”

Palmer concluded by urging believers to pray and vote for an expanded GOP majority in Congress and a Republican president in order to secure the border. “That’s another thing that people can put on their prayer list is we need to hold the majority. We need to expand our majority. Get the Senate. Get a Republican in the White House. And for God to give us one more chance to get the country back on the right track.”

AUTHOR

Dan Hart

Dan Hart is senior editor at The Washington Stand.

RELATED ARTICLE: The Most Justified Impeachment in American History

RELATED VIDEO: Senator Rand Paul: Senate Border Deal Went Over ‘Like A Lead Balloon’ Among GOP

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EDITORS NOTE: This Washington Stand column is republished with permission. All rights reserved. ©2024 Family Research Council.

The Washington Stand is Family Research Council’s outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand is based in Washington, D.C. and is published by FRC, whose mission is to advance faith, family, and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview. We invite you to stand with us by partnering with FRC.

‘Every Tool and Strategy’: GOP Governors, Trump Call for Border Security — with or without Biden

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A coalition of Republican governors is backing Texas against the Biden administration as the Lone Star State is securing the southern border. Twenty-five governors signed a joint statement issued late Thursday, supporting Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s (R) declaration of an “invasion” and invocation of constitutional articles to enable Texas’s self-defense at the border.

“President Biden and his Administration have left Americans and our country completely vulnerable to unprecedented illegal immigration pouring across the Southern border,” the governors wrote. “Instead of upholding the rule of law and securing the border, the Biden Administration has attacked and sued Texas for stepping up to protect American citizens from historic levels of illegal immigrants, deadly drugs like fentanyl, and terrorists entering our country.”

“We stand in solidarity with our fellow Governor, Greg Abbott, and the State of Texas in utilizing every tool and strategy, including razor wire fences, to secure the border,” they continued. “We do it in part because the Biden Administration is refusing to enforce immigration laws already on the books and is illegally allowing mass parole across America of migrants who entered our country illegally.” The governors concluded, “Because the Biden Administration has abdicated its constitutional compact duties to the states, Texas has every legal justification to protect the sovereignty of our states and our nation.”

The letter was signed by governors Kay Ivey (Ala.), Mike Dunleavy (Alaska), Sarah Sanders (Ark.), Ron DeSantis (Fla.), Brian Kemp (Ga.), Brad Little (Idaho), Eric Holcomb (Ind.), Kim Reynolds (Iowa), Jeff Landry (La.), Tate Reeves (Miss.), Mike Parson (Mo.), Greg Gianforte (Mont.), Jim Pillen (Neb.), Joe Lombardo (Nev.), Chris Sununu (N.H.), Doug Burgum (N.D.), Mike DeWine (Ohio), Kevin Stitt (Okla.), Henry McMaster (S.C.), Kristi Noem (S.D.), Bill Lee (Tenn.), Spencer Cox (Utah), Glenn Youngkin (Va.), Jim Justice (W.Va.), and Mark Gordon (Wyo.). Vermont’s Phil Scott was the only Republican governor in the nation who did not sign the letter.

The letter follows an escalating standoff between Texas and the Biden administration over the nation’s wide-open southern border. After Texas began erecting barriers at the border to deter the increasing influx of illegal immigrants, the Biden Department of Justice sued the Lone Star State, and federal Border Patrol agents began removing the razor wire that Texas had set up. After the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals granted a preliminary injunction to bar Border Patrol from removing or dismantling Texas’s razor wire, Biden’s Solicitor General asked the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene. In a 5-4 decision, the Court vacated the injunction. Almost immediately, Abbott declared that the “federal government has broken the compact between the United States and the States,” since the Biden administration has not only refused to enforce border security and immigration law but actively undermined and worked against both.

On Wednesday night’s episode of “Washington Watch,” former White House and Justice Department attorney Ken Klukowski explained, “Under our Constitution, we have two separate sovereignties: you have the federal government and state governments; they are co-equal sovereigns; one doesn’t override the other.” He continued, “The Constitution assigns to each one their own specific responsibilities. And in this case, both levels — federal and state — have powers that that level of government can use that has the effect of securing the border and protecting people and property within each state.” He added, “There are those saying, ‘Oh, Texas is defying the Supreme Court.’ No, they’re not. Right now, Border Patrol agents are free to [cut] the fence, and Texas personnel are free to be setting it back up. … They can continue to try and secure the border, ironically, doing the Border Patrol’s job.”

Republican governors aren’t the only ones backing Abbott. Former President Donald Trump is also supporting Texas and calling on other states to send their National Guards to the border to help. “Joe Biden has surrendered our Border, and is aiding and abetting a massive Invasion of millions of Illegal Migrants into the United States,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “Instead of fighting to protect our Country from this onslaught, Biden is, unbelievably, fighting to tie the hands of Governor Abbott and the State of Texas, so that the Invasion continues unchecked.”

He continued to say, “We encourage all willing States to deploy their guards to Texas to prevent the entry of illegals, and to remove them back across the border.” He also pledged, if elected president again, mass deportations of the over six million illegal immigrants Biden has allowed into the country, quipping, “Those Biden has let in should not get comfortable because they will be going home.”

Last year, over 14 governors deployed National Guardsmen and law enforcement personnel to Texas to assist with Operation Lone Star, Abbott’s effort to secure the border in Biden’s absence. Since the Texas governor issued his “invasion” declaration on Tuesday, other states have also mobilized their national guards.

AUTHOR

S.A. McCarthy

S.A. McCarthy serves as a news writer at The Washington Stand.

RELATED ARTICLE: ‘We Want People to Come Here Legally’: Texas’s Border Stand Promotes Migrants’ Safety, Experts Say

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EDITORS NOTE: This Washington Stand column is republished with permission. All rights reserved. ©2024 Family Research Council.

The Washington Stand is Family Research Council’s outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand is based in Washington, D.C. and is published by FRC, whose mission is to advance faith, family, and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview. We invite you to stand with us by partnering with FRC.

Tammy Nobles on the Border Crisis: ‘I Don’t Want Any Other Parent to Live the Nightmare I Am Living’

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Illegal immigration is no longer an issue that only impacts people in border states. According to a recent Harvard CAPS-Harris poll, it has passed inflation as the #1 issue facing the nation. Communities across the country are feeling the detrimental effects of migrant crossings on their schools and businesses, and it’s contributed to a tremendous increase in drug trafficking, human trafficking, and crime.

Last Thursday, two mothers spoke on Capitol Hill before the House Homeland Security Committee, sharing their heartbreaking stories about how they lost their daughters due to the actions of illegal immigrants — two criminals that, before 2021 when the Biden administration took over, most likely would have been stopped at the border and not allowed into the United States.

Tammy Nobles from Maryland and Josephine Dunn from Arizona testified at the committee’s impeachment hearing for Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. Both of these grieving mothers believe that their daughters’ deaths were the result of Secretary Mayorkas’s refusal to follow the laws and secure the border. While Mrs. Dunn took the long trip from Arizona to Washington, D.C. to share her story, Mayorkas did not even show up to the two days of hearings to listen to her or Mrs. Nobles or look them in the eye.

Tammy Nobles’s daughter, Kayla Hamilton, was brutally raped and murdered on July 27, 2022 by an MS-13 gang member who strangled her with her phone cord and robbed her of $6.00. Kayla’s life would have been spared if this known violent MS-13 gang member had been stopped at the southern border. But he was not. Instead, according to Nobles:

“Among other neglectful actions, DHS employees failed to visually inspect the assailant by lifting his shirt to check for gang-related tattoos. Had DHS employees performed a visual inspection of the assailant’s body, they would have seen MS-13 gang related tattoos on his body, disqualifying him from entering the U.S. DHS employees failed to make a simple phone call to the El Salvador government to verify if [the] assailant was on an MS-13 gang affiliation list. Had they done so, El Salvador government officials would have confirmed that the assailant was a known MS-13 gang member with a prior criminal history. DHS supervisors had failed to train and supervise DHS employees to properly screen minors attempting to enter U.S. soil from El Salvador.”

As Nobles told Fox News’s Harris Faulker, the detectives who were working on Kayla’s case asked U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) if they could hold the suspect, a minor, until the DNA evidence came back, and ICE refused to. So the detectives had Child Protective Services (CPS) hold him, and CPS told the detectives that they were going to put him in a secure location. They later found out that officials put him in an unsecured children’s home where he had issues with other children. Finally, CPS put him into a foster home.

Chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, Congressman Mark Green (R-Tenn.), joined Nobles for that FOX News interview. Astounded, Faulkner asked Green, “He’s still illegal right? … Why does he get the same rights of ‘innocent until proven guilty’ in this country? … This guy gets to roam and gets put into homes where there are children.”

Green shared her frustration replying, “It’s insane. In fact, this individual gets more rights than an American citizen. An American citizen, under the [Department of Justice] right now, if there’s a court hearing pending, they report that information. They’ll say when the court date is. For illegals, they don’t even advertise or tell us the court dates for these people. It’s insane. They get more rights than we do.”

Faulker asked, “If he’s part of a gang, doesn’t he get a special designation of terror? I just don’t get it.”

Green responded, “They’re supposed to.”

At the end of her heart-wrenching testimony at Mayorkas’s impeachment hearing, Nobles said:

“For me this not a political issue — this a safety issue for everyone living in the United States. This could have been anyone’s daughter. I don’t want any other parent to live the nightmare that I am living. I am her voice now, and I am going to fight with everything I have to get her story told and bring awareness of the issue at the border.

“If we had stricter border policies, my daughter would still be alive today. Nothing will bring my daughter back nor fix the pain of not having her here, but I want to prevent this from happening to someone else’s child. This isn’t about immigration, this is about protecting everyone in the United States.”

While Nobles lost her daughter to a rapist and murderer who should have been caught at the border, Mr. and Mrs. Dunn lost their daughter due to the actions of a drug dealer that DHS should have stopped from coming into our country. Dunn talked about her daughter, Ashley, who would have turned 29 on January 19 — the day she offered her testimony. Instead, Ashley died as a result of fentanyl poisoning when she was 26 years old. With deep emotion, Dunn tearfully explained:

“In the same five minutes that I get to share her story, someone else’s loved one in the United States will die from fentanyl. Over the next 24 hours, 190 loved ones will die. Today, in my state, the beautiful state of Arizona alone, five people will lose their lives to this weapon of mass destruction.”

Ashley’s murderer is a convicted, repeat drug distribution offender, a 44-year-old career drug dealer and trafficker. She has 14 prior convictions for drug sales. Dunn stated that one half of one pill that contained five milligrams of fentanyl killed Ashley. She went on to explain:

“Her dealer cannot be prosecuted for Ashley’s death. Nor can she even be charged. Ashley’s son, her father, and I are not even considered victims of ‘Dawn the Dealers’ actions. We do not even have the ability to provide a victim impact statement in Ashley’s trafficker’s case. The evidence is clear in Ashley’s phone. Toxicology report states five milligrams of fentanyl. Nothing can be done. She knowingly sold poison to our daughter which caused her death. Yet she will not be charged.”

According to The Heritage Foundation, fentanyl is often disguised as other medication. It kills before the victim even realizes what is happening to them. In addition, most illicit fentanyl today is manufactured in Mexico and brought across our southern border.

Heritage explains, “The American public needs to understand these fentanyl deaths aren’t classic overdoses among addicts. These aren’t broken kids with ‘substance use disorder.’ The overwhelming majority aren’t actively seeking fentanyl at all. Rather, in an age where medication is advertised wall-to-wall on our TVs, radio and social media, kids (like adults) think they can take a pill to fix anything, including stress and anxiety — conditions rampant among young people.”

Opioids, largely fentanyl, are now the number one killer of Americans aged 18-45 years old. Secretary Mayorkas and the Department of Homeland Security should do everything it can to put a stop to this epidemic and secure our borders immediately. And yet, Mayorkas didn’t even show up to listen to Dunn’s testimony, where she said:

“I understand that the mission of [the] Department of Homeland Security is to secure our nation’s air, land, sea, and borders to prevent illegal activity while facilitating lawful travel and trade. In my humble opinion, Mr. Mayorkas is partially responsible for my daughter’s death. His wide-open border policy allows massive quantities of poisonous fentanyl into our country. Arizona is the fentanyl superhighway into the United States. I personally feel Mr. Mayorkas is guilty of aiding and abetting the enemy who uses 10 million illegal border crossings since February 2021 to supply fentanyl, the weapon of mass destruction that has killed over 100,000 Americans on our soil for two years in a row.

“This is an invasion, a weapon of mass destruction, and unimaginable death and damage to our country [has been] facilitated by Mr. Mayorkas. His participation in all of this, what I believe is a war, is clearly intentional support of the enemy, which disqualifies him from his position. Our country deserves a secure border. We need to close the fentanyl superhighway. Thank you.”

AUTHOR

Kathy Athearn

RELATED ARTICLE: Dems Say Biden Should Seize Control Of Texas’ National Guard–But Here’s What They Aren’t Telling You

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EDITORS NOTE: This Washington Stand column is republished with permission. All rights reserved. ©2024 Family Research Council. 

The Washington Stand is Family Research Council’s outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand is based in Washington, D.C. and is published by FRC, whose mission is to advance faith, family, and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview. We invite you to stand with us by partnering with FRC.

ULTIMATUM: Biden Regime Gives Texas Gov. Abbott Until Tomorrow To Allow Feds To Cut Down Border Fence To Allow Hordes of Migrants In

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UPDATE:

Next up on the illegitimate regime’s to do list — Civil War.

The Biden regime gives Governor Abbott until tomorrow for Texas National Guard to allow the Feds back to cut down the fences.

It bears noting, when Democrat cities broke federal laws and declared themselves ‘sanctuary cities,’ no action was taken. In the contrary, the party of treason was cheered by the destroyer class.

Twenty five Republican Governors stand with Texas.

And the people are coming. The people are coming.

Biden administration renews demand for Texas to allow Border Patrol to access a key park

By: Associated Press

McAllen, Texas (AP) — A clash between Texas and the Biden administration over immigration enforcement showed no signs of easing Wednesday as federal officials renewed demands for the state to give Border Patrol agents access to a riverfront park that is a popular corridor for migrants illegally entering the U.S.

Texas has installed rows of razor wire in the park and says more is being added after the Supreme Court cleared the way for Border Patrol agents to cut or remove the sharp metal barrier. The fencing has become one of Republican Gov. Greg Abbott’s most visible measures to deter migrants in the border city of Eagle Pass.

Texas seized control of the park this month and began denying entry to Border Patrol agents, escalating a feud between Abbott and President Joe Biden’s administration, which the governor accuses of not doing enough to curb illegal crossings. On Tuesday, the Department of Homeland Security sent the state a letter demanding access again to Shelby Park, which is next to the Rio Grande.

“To our knowledge, Texas has only permitted access to Shelby Park by allowing public entry for a memorial, the media, and use of the golf course adjacent to Shelby Park, all while continuing to restrict U.S. Border Patrol’s access to the park,” the letter read.

It asked Texas to respond by Friday.

Spokespersons for Texas Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton, whose office had sued the Biden administration over cutting the razor wire, did not immediately return a message seeking comment.

Continue reading.

AUTHOR

Pamela Geller

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BIDEN SUED! Meet Matt O’Brien, illegal immigration investigator, going after Biden’s ICE!

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Illegals Here/Still Coming – Goal to Destroy America’s Sovereignty!

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EDITORS NOTE: This Defend the Border column and video are republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Kari Lake Reveals If She Would Accept VP Slot Under Trump

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Republican Senate Candidate Kari Lake of Arizona demurred when asked if she would serve as former President Donald Trump’s running mate Monday evening.

Speculation about who Trump would select as his running mate increased after Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis dropped out of the Republican primary race Sunday in a video posted on X, formerly known as Twitter less than a week after Trump won the Iowa caucuses by a record margin. Lake deflected when Fox News host Jesse Watters asked if she’d accept the vice-presidential slot on the ticket.

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“I see myself in the Senate and helping America, to secure our border and make Arizona a safer and better place to live in the U.S. Senate,” Lake told Watters.” I’m here in New Hampshire right now helping President Trump and I really want to get him back in office, but I think we need to make sure, not only do we take back the White House, but we have got to have the majority in the Senate.”

Lake is running for the Senate seat held by Independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, who is also facing a challenge from Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego of Arizona.

“If we don’t have the majority in the Senate, can you imagine how hard it’s going to be for President Trump to get things done?” Lake asked Watters. “And this outrageous ruling by the Supreme Court just proves we need a law to build the wall and secure the border. We need a law to finally stop people from pouring across our border and destroying our country. That’s what I’m willing and able to do, and starting on day one I’m going to help President Trump do that.”

Nearly 380,000 illegal immigrants have been encountered at the U.S.-Mexico border during the first two months fiscal year 2024, which started Oct. 1, according to data released by United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP), following 2,045,838 encounters in fiscal year 2023, 2,206,436 in fiscal year 2022 and 1,659,206 in fiscal year 2021. Another 302,000 illegal immigrants entered the United States in December.

AUTHOR

HAROLD HUTCHISON

Reporter.

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All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

Congressman: Border Chaos ‘Is Ripping Apart America Right Now’

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One of the many obstacles to solving the southern border crisis is the lack of cooperation from the Democrats, according to Senator Roger Marshall (R-Kan.). In December, Marshall, who serves on four Senate committees, discussed on “Washington Watch with Tony Perkins” how the president’s party had been focused on Ukraine funding rather than the border, putting progress at a complete standstill. However, as the threat to the southern border continues to swell, more Democrats are changing their stance on the issue.

Sam Joshi, the Democrat mayor of Edison, New Jersey, said migrants are “not welcome” in his town. Although he received backlash, the mayor stood his ground. “They’re illegal, and they belong on the other side of the border. We don’t want them in Edison, period,” he said. And recent polls indicate this opinion is growing — among unlikely groups.

A January 5 poll conducted by YouGov and CBS News revealed 60% of white people, 50% of black people, and 47% of Hispanics oppose settling illegal immigrants locally. And although the Democrats surveyed largely support local housing for the undocumented migrants, 62% of independents oppose it.

Separate data collected by Rasmussen Reports showed 65% of “likely U.S. voters” consider the immigration crisis as an “invasion” with an additional 43% who strongly view that statement as “very accurate.” Only 31% disagree, and another 15% felt that statement was completely inaccurate.

On Monday’s episode of “Washington Watch,” Representative Mark Alford (R-Mo.) shared about his experience when he joined Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and several others on a trip to the southern border last week. “We saw firsthand the chaos,” he said. “Chaos that this administration [and] Secretary [Alejandro] Mayorkas … will not classify as a crisis.”

Instead, Alford noted, they call it “a challenge.” “This has been languishing for years,” he said, insisting that it’s not accurate to say it is simply a challenge. “Look,” he added, “this isn’t selling used cars. … [It’s] a crisis that [Mayorkas] and President Biden created.” And “with a wink and a nod … almost nine million illegal aliens” have been admitted into the nation.

Notably, most Americans welcome immigrants who enter the country legally. “Legal immigrants are part of the fabric of America,” Alford said. “But this process, this crisis, this chaos, is ripping apart America right now.” And in addition to the madness caused from having nowhere to place them or ways to treat their needs, America’s national security is under severe jeopardy, Alford observed. But he stressed that most Democrats won’t “admit” that “because they want these illegals to eventually become voters” for the Democratic Party who let them in.

Another shocking consequence of the border crisis is the correlation it has to the rise of human trafficking in America, Alford pointed out. During his visit to the border, Alford learned that “$32 million a week is going back to the cartels who are ferrying these people over.” Broken down, these trips can cost “anywhere from $5,000 to $8,000 per trip” per individual, he emphasized. Last week on “Washington Watch with Tony Perkins,” Speaker Johnson noted the money going back to the cartels from the border crisis would total about “$1.6 billion annually.”

Alford continued, “[The migrants] don’t have that money. So, they go to work in the human sex trade” in the U.S. to “pay off their debt to these cartels. One hundred thousand children are unaccounted for in America in this process. That’s despicable.”

On top of the border crisis, “[T]here’s a lot of work yet to be done in getting … [the] spending bill addressed, all the appropriations bills across the finish line, and avoiding a potential shutdown,” guest host and former Congressman Jody Hice chimed in. But Alford mentioned the most recent text for a spending bill had no mention of border security. And as far as he and his conservative colleagues are concerned, no matter how dressed up the spending bill appears, border security is non-negotiable. Or, as he stated, “[Y]ou can put lipstick on a pig, but I’m not kissing this pig.”

Alford concluded that his only priority right now is border security. “That is my number one concern, number two concern, and number three concern right now,” he said. “Whatever it takes to secure the border.”

AUTHOR

Sarah Holliday

Sarah Holliday is a reporter at The Washington Stand.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Washington Stand column is republished with permission. All rights reserved. ©2024 Family Research Council.

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