Tag Archive for: Maryland

EXCLUSIVE: Unearthed Police Reports Shine Light On Abrego Garcia’s Alleged Involvement In Human Smuggling

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While Democrats continue to decry Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s deportation, newly obtained police records show that the suspected human smuggler is connected to another individual ticketed for cramming around 10 people in a car on a cross-country border trip.

Abrego Garcia — a deported Salvadoran illegal migrant who has since been brought back to the U.S. to face smuggling charges — was once pulled over with the same vehicle and license plate driven by another man more recently caught driving about 10 people from Texas to Maryland, according to police and court records reviewed by the Daily Caller News Foundation. Democrats have pulled out all the stops for Abrego Garcia — going as far as traveling to El Salvador and protesting his deportation from a cushy five star resort.

“Kilmar Abrego Garcia was not a ‘Maryland man,’ but likely an illegal alien gang member transporting other aliens from Texas to Maryland as part of a human trafficking operation,” Dale Wilcox, executive director and general counsel of the Immigration Reform Law Institute (IRLI), told the DCNF.

“Those who pushed the narrative of Abrego Garcia as an innocent man deported unfairly have been gaslighting the American people,” Wilcox continued. “They have no credibility to attack the Trump administration’s much needed actions to remove dangerous aliens from our communities.”

‘Approximately 10 People Inside’

On Feb. 8, 2018, a man identified as Ismael Alexander Melara Flores was pulled over in Prince George’s County, Maryland, and cited for not wearing a seat belt, online court records show. He was driving a 2004 Toyota with a Maryland license plate.

Two months later, police in Frederick, Maryland — about 50 miles away from where Melara Flores was pulled over — cited Abrego Garcia for driving without a license and failure to provide a license to an officer, according to a police report obtained by the DCNF. The report noted he was driving a 2004 blue Toyota Matrix, and an online court record of that incident listed the same Maryland license plate for that car.

Melara Flores was pulled over again in November 2022, this time cited for an illegal window tint and hauling people in spaces not meant for passengers, according to a law enforcement citation obtained by the DCNF. Law enforcement personnel at the time of the citation noted that Melara Flores’ vehicle, a 2011 Honda Pilot, was sagging to the ground due to the sheer weight of roughly 10 people being crammed inside.

The trooper was told by the vehicle’s occupants that they were in the process of driving from Texas to Maryland, the law enforcement citation shows.

“Observed illegal window tint. [Vehicle] clearly sagging in rear due to excessive weight,” the report reads. “Had approximately 10 people inside of the vehicle. Taking them to Maryland from Houston. Crack stretching all the way across the windshield.”

Melara Flores was ultimately cited that day in Arkansas for an improper window tint, windshield obstruction and for driving people in spaces not meant for passengers. The law enforcement report was obtained with assistance from IRLI’s investigative team.

Law enforcement officials have suspected similar actions to be related to migrant or human smuggling — which was what the Tennessee Highway Patrol suspected when they stopped Abrego Garcia in 2022 for driving eight people in his car from Texas to Maryland.

Police caught Abrego Garcia without a valid driver’s license and discovered he was transporting eight other individuals in the car with him on Dec. 1, 2022, according to Department of Homeland (DHS) documents previously shared with the Daily Caller. Like Melara Flores, he told the officer that he was driving everyone from Texas to Maryland.

Law enforcement suspected human smuggling was at play, given the fact that they were driving across the country, but not a single individual was carrying luggage, according to the documents. Additionally, every passenger listed Abrego Garcia’s address as their own.

“There’s eight people in there,” one officer says to another during the Tennessee traffic stop. “So he’s getting paid to haul these people, probably to Maryland, I would say.”

Despite the suspicions, Abrego Garcia and his passengers were reportedly let go at the request of the FBI. A spokesperson for the FBI directed a request for comment about this incident to DHS. However, a spokesperson for the department did not respond.

The vehicle Abrego Garcia was driving the night he was pulled over in Tennessee was owned by Jose Ramon Hernandez-Reyes, a Mexican illegal migrant convicted of smuggling other illegal migrants, DHS confirmed to the DCNF.

The illegal migrant clients who paid for the Hernandez-Reyes-led operation were caught overpacked in a vehicle being driven from Texas to other parts of the country — in similar fashion to Melara Flores’ and Abrego Garcia’s road trips.

‘Even If He Kills Me, No One Can Do Anything To Him’

In addition to the alleged human smuggling connections, Abrego Garcia has been accused of repeated domestic abuse by his U.S. citizen wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura.

Sura swore in an April 2021 restraining order that he repeatedly hurt her and was aggressive during their marriage, claiming in court documents that he once “punched, scratched me on my left eye, leaving me bleeding.”

Sura, who has become an outspoken advocate for Abrego Garcia’s return since he was deported, framed the revelation of the protective order as an isolated incident and something she only undertook as a precautionary measure. In an interview with The Washington Post, she said she didn’t bother showing up to court for the protection order, causing it to be dismissed, and claimed that the altercation was a singular incident.

However, several days after that interview was published, DHS revealed an additional protective order Sura had filed in August 2020.

Sura claimed that, between December 2019 and March 2020, Abrego Garcia dragged her out of a vehicle by her hair and left her on the street, broke down doors and pushed her against a wall, and also claimed to have a recording of him stating that “even if he kills me, no one can do anything to him.”

Abrego Garcia has been suspected by law enforcement of affiliation with MS-13, the brutal international criminal syndicate made up of Salvadoran nationals, since his arrest on local charges in Maryland several years ago.

A “past proven reliable source” informed Prince George’s County law enforcement that he was a member of MS-13 following his 2019 arrest outside of a Home Depot, according to documents released by the Department of Justice. An immigration judge and members of the Board of Immigration Appeals later ruled that the accusations of gang affiliation were credible.

Sura’s ex, Edwin Trejo, accused Abrego Garcia of being a gang member in 2018 court papers when seeking an emergency court hearing on the custody of Sura’s and Trejo’s two children.

“The facts are clear: Kilmar Abrego Garcia is a violent illegal alien who abuses women and children,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a previous statement. “He had no business being in our country and we are proud to have deported this violent thug.”

Five-Star Resort In El Salvador

Despite mounting accusations of gang affiliation and domestic abuse, Democrats remain steadfast in their demands to bring Abrego Garcia back to the U.S.

Maryland Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen in April became the first in his party to travel to El Salvador to demand a meeting with the deported illegal migrant. He was soon followed by four House Democrats who travelled to the country later that month.

Maryland Democratic Rep. Glenn Ivey spent his Memorial Day weekend traveling to El Salvador and demanding a meeting of his own with Abrego Garcia. During his trip, Ivey posted a video on social media indicating that he was denied access to the prison facility currently holding Abrego Garcia and was asked to return with the proper documentation.

Illinois Democrat Gov. JB Pritzker directed state officials in April to examine boycott options against the country of El Salvador until Abrego Garcia is returned to the U.S.

The Salvadoran national claims he left his home country to escape gang violence and illegally entered the U.S. around 2011, according to court documents. The alleged gangbanger eventually began a relationship with Sura, now his wife, and did not run into immigration trouble until his March 2019 local arrest in Prince George’s County.

He was transferred into federal custody while he fought deportation orders and accusations of gang affiliation, according to court documents. He caught a break in October 2019 when he was granted a protected status known as “withholding of removal” after an immigration judge agreed with his claim that he would likely face persecution by gang members if repatriated back to El Salvador.

Following his withholding of removal order, Abrego Garcia was released from custody and continued living in Maryland — until President Donald Trump returned to office and began a sweeping crackdown on illegal immigration.

Immigration officers pulled Abrego Garcia over on March 12 after he finished a work shift in the Baltimore area, informed him that his status had changed and took him into custody, according to court documents. By March 15, he informed his wife that he would be sent to a maximum security mega-prison in El Salvador built to detain MS-13 gangbangers and other members of notorious crime syndicates.

Democrats and other immigration activists have pointed to Abrego Garcia’s withholding of removal protection as reason why he should’ve never been sent back to El Salvador. He has since been transferred to another, lower security facility in Santa Ana, El Salvador, as the court challenge against his deportation continues on.

On Friday, Attorney General Pam Bondi confirmed that Abrego Garcia landed in the U.S. to face human smuggling charges.

“Upon completion of his sentence, we anticipate he will be returned to his home country of El Salvador,” Bondi said, adding that El Salvador President Nayib Bukele agreed to release him to face the charges. She said Abrego Garcia is believed to have made over 100 trips smuggling migrants across the U.S.

AUTHOR

Jason Hopkins

Immigration Reporter

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

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.

‘Looked Like a Fool’: GOP Roasts Van Hollen Over Meeting with Illegal Alien

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GOP lawmakers expressed outrage on social media after Maryland Democrat Sen. Chris Van Hollen met with a deported illegal alien in El Salvador on Thursday.

“Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland looked like a fool yesterday standing in El Salvador begging for attention from the fake news media, or anyone,” President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Van Hollen traveled to El Salvador to demand the release from prison of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, who the senator claims was “illegally abducted” from Maryland. Abrego Garcia entered the U.S. illegally in 2012, has ties to MS-13, and the Department of Homeland Security claims he has been involved in human trafficking activity.

“Find someone who looks at you the way Democrat senators look at illegal alien MS-13 gang members,” Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, wrote sarcastically on X with a photo of the two men talking.

Rep. Mike Collins, R-Ga., called Van Hollen’s actions “traitorous,” and Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md., bashed his fellow Maryland lawmaker for showing more support to an illegal alien than the family of slain Maryland mother Rachel Morin, who was raped and murdered by an illegal alien in 2023.

“Imagine if Sen. Van Hollen cared as much about the families of Rachel Morin and Kayla Hamilton,” Harris wrote on X. An illegal alien MS-13 gang member killed Hamilton, a 20-year-old Maryland woman, in 2023.

“Leftist politicians only want to talk about bringing illegal immigrants back to Maryland,” Harris added.

After more Democrats expressed an interest in visiting Abrego Garcia in El Salvador, Rep. Mark Green, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, issued a statement saying his colleagues on the Left “can use their own personal credit cards—not taxpayers’ money—to virtue-signal to their radical base.”

GOP politicians were not the only ones criticizing Van Hollen after his meeting with Abrego Garcia. The Libs of TikTok X account, which has over 4 million followers, shared a blank photo on social media with the caption, “Here’s an image of Democrat Sen. Chris Van Hollen meeting with Rachel Morin’s family who was murdered by an illegal in his state.”

Ahead of Van Vollen’s meeting with Abrego Garcia, The Daily Wire political commentator Michael Knowles made a meme of Van Hollen looking into the eyes of a man intended to represent an illegal alien gang member.

After the meeting in El Salvador, Knowles shared the image of Van Hollen and Abrego Garcia seated at a table together talking with the tongue-in-cheek caption, “He … he did. He actually did it. [Van Hollen] did my meme.”

Despite Van Hollen’s calls for Abrego Garcia to be returned to America, and U.S. courts ordering the Trump administration to “facilitate” his return, Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele says the deported illegal alien has the “honor of staying in El Salvador’s custody.”

AUTHOR

Virginia Allen

Virginia Allen is a senior news producer for The Daily Signal and host of “The Daily Signal Podcast” and “Problematic Women.” Send an email to Virginia. Virginia on X: .

RELATED ARTICLES:

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President Bukele: Abrego Garcia and Sen. Van Hollen Seen ‘Sipping Margaritas’ in El Salvador

Trump Vows to Deport Illegal Aliens at Unprecedented Scale in Speech to Conservatives

Don’t Believe Democrats’ Scare Tactics About the SAVE Act

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CNN’s Scott Jennings blasts Senator Van Hollen for meeting with gang banger Abrego Garcia

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

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EXCLUSIVE: Department Of Homeland Security Confirms Abrego García Stopped On Suspicion Of Human Trafficking

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The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) confirmed to the Daily Caller that Kilmar Abrego García, a recently deported alleged member of MS-13, was stopped in December 2022 on suspicion of human trafficking.

During a Dec. 1, 2022 traffic stop by a Tennessee Highway Patrol officer, Abrego García was found to be transporting eight passengers across the country, sources told the Tennessee Star. He allegedly did not have a valid driver’s license and was suspected of trafficking the passengers but was let go at the request of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Documents from Homeland Investigations provided to the Daily Caller reveal more details about the encounter.

Abrego García was pulled over because the vehicle was observed “speeding and unable to maintain its lane,” according to the documents. Abrego García had an expired Maryland “limited term temporary driver’s license,” which is provided to individuals who are not U.S. citizens, authorities said.

The officer identified eight other individuals in the vehicle and Abrego García advised that he was driving them from Texas to Maryland, according to the documents. None of the passengers had any luggage and all provided the same home address, which was Abrego Garcia’s address, authorities said.

Abrego García allegedly pretended to speak less English than he was capable of and attempted to confuse the officer by responding to the officer’s questions with his own.

Abrego García also said the owner of the vehicle was his “boss,” who works in construction, authorities said.

The officer attempted to gather details about the other passengers but was not able to read their handwriting, according to the documents, and Abrego García was given a warning for driving on an expired license.

DHS also advised the Caller that Abrego García is on the Threat Screening Center’s Transnational Organized Crime Watchlist.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) released a gang field interview sheet Wednesday that contained evidence that Abrego García is a member of MS-13. Two immigration judges denied Abrego García bond during 2019 hearings, affirming the government’s claim that he is MS-13 and citing him as a potential danger to the community.

Abrego García was given a withholding of removal by a separate immigration judge, meaning he could not be deported to El Salvador due to concerns of persecution by Barrio 18, a rival gang to MS-13. The Trump administration said they made an “administrative error” when Abrego García was removed to El Salvador. He is currently being held in the country’s CECOT prison.

AUTHOR

Amber Duke

Senior Editor.

RELATED ARTICLES:

Wifebeating MS-13 Gangbanger Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s History of Violence

DOJ Releases Dossier Of Deported Maryland Man’s Alleged MS-13 Gang Ties

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

Sen. Chris Van Hollen’s Trip To El Salvador Likely Paid For By Taxpayers, Senate Aides Say

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Democratic Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen’s trip to El Salvador to try to secure the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a deported illegal alien, was likely funded by taxpayers, six individuals familiar with congressional travel tell the Daily Caller.

Three Senate aides and one former aide told the Caller that they believe the trip was likely a Congressional Member Delegation (CODEL), which refers to an official visit abroad by members of Congress and their staff. Such trips are paid for with federal government resources.

“Gotta be,” said one high-level Senate aide when asked if they believe taxpayers foot the bill for Van Hollen’s travel.

A former senior congressional aide said, “Zero doubt the Senator either paid out of the office MRA [Member’s Representational Allowance] or paid personally and will get reimbursed as an ‘official travel’ expense.”

Van Hollen flew to El Salvador on Wednesday morning in a bid to get the country’s government to release Abrego Garcia. Abrego Garcia was deported and sent to the CECOT prison despite an immigration judge issuing a withholding of removal in 2019 after the Salvadoran national said he feared he would be targeted by Barrio 18, a Salvadorian gang that is a rival to MS-13, if he were returned to his home country.

Court documents and a Gang Field Interview Sheet released by the Department of Justice indicate that when Abrego Garcia was first picked up by police in 2019 he was with two other ranking members of MS-13, wore clothing that signified he was a gang member, and was identified as a member of MS-13 by a trusted confidential informant. Two immigration judges in 2019 agreed with the government’s assessment that Abrego Garcia posed a danger to the public and was a “verified member” of the gang.

“If I had to bet, this trip was funded with taxpayer dollars. Regardless, it’s insane that Democrats are more concerned about illegal immigrant gang members being sent home than their constituents’ safety,” one Senate aide said.

Van Hollen was unsuccessful in meeting or having a phone call with Abrego Garcia while he was in El Salvador. The senator said he was able to meet with the vice president of El Salvador, who allegedly told him “he was not able to make that happen.”

Salvadoran president Nayib Bukele asserted in an Oval Office meeting with President Donald Trump earlier this week that he has no intention of returning Abrego Garcia to the U.S., calling the idea “preposterous.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised at all if Van Hollen’s little PR stunt to support an illegal alien was actually paid for by hardworking Americans,” another Senate aide said. “Democrats like Van Hollen are more outraged by a justified deportation than they are by horrific crimes committed by criminal illegals in the U.S. This little trip is a perfect example of why Americans overwhelmingly voted for President Trump and his commonsense immigration policies. Van Hollen’s potentially taxpayer-funded trip might play well with radical liberals on the East and West Coast, but regular Americans just want to know whether they have to foot the bill.”

Senator Ted Cruz addressed the issue of funding for Van Hollen’s trip during Wednesday’s edition of his “Verdict” podcast.

“That’s one of the prerogatives of being in the Senate, is that you can travel internationally on official travel, and each senator can make a determination of where he or she wants to go,” Cruz said of taxpayer-funded trips. “And it should be related to your responsibilities, related to your work, but particularly for someone like Van Hollen or Murphy. They both serve with me on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and so that, in and of itself, gives you a significant justification to travel abroad work-related.”

Cruz continued, “So, look, can the Democrats travel to El Salvador if they want, and is that part, reasonably, of their work? Yes, but what they’re doing is traveling there in order to highlight, ‘We want to bring this illegal immigrant whom two courts have found as an MS-13 member, back to America.’ That’s astonishingly bad policy, and I think astonishingly bad politics.”

Van Hollen’s office did not respond to a request for comment in time for publication.

A committee chair’s approval is typically needed for a member to go on an official congressional delegation, individuals familiar tell the Caller.

A spokesperson for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee told the Caller that committee chair Sen. Jim Risch did not approve Van Hollen’s trip, but noted that some other committees and Senate leadership — including Democratic Minority Leader Chuck Schumer — have the power to approve foreign travel, so Van Hollen “must have found another way.”

Reps. Maxwell Frost and Robert Garcia said in a letter requesting their own CODEL for a trip to El Salvador that the Senate “has already authorized CODEL travel to CECOT.”

Van Hollen said he will not stop fighting for his “constituent” and referred to Abrego Garcia as an “American citizen” on Tuesday. His staff later said he “misspoke” and meant to refer to Abrego Garcia’s wife, who was born in the United States.

Van Hollen’s office did not respond to multiple inquiries from the Caller about the funding of his trip.

Abrego Garcia’s wife previously filed two domestic violence protection orders against him, according to court documents obtained by independent journalist Andy Ngo.

While Van Hollen was in El Salvador, the White House held a special press briefing with Patty Morin, the mother of Rachel Morin, a Maryland mother murdered by an illegal alien. Morin noted that while Van Hollen issued a press release following her daughter’s death, he never called her to express sympathy nor did he meet with Rachel’s family.

Morin said she was outraged that “a senator from Maryland who didn’t even acknowledge — or barely acknowledged — my daughter and the brutal death that she endured, leaving her five children without a mother” opted to “use my tax money to fly to El Salvador to bring back a person … who isn’t even an American citizen.”

AUTHOR

Amber Duke

Senior Editor. Follow Amber on Twitter

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DOJ Releases Dossier Of Deported Maryland Man’s Alleged MS-13 Gang Ties

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Obama Far-Left Judge Halts Trump’s Effort to Remove Legal Status of 530,000 Immigrants Brought Into Country by Biden

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

ICE Nabs Convicted Sex Offender And Illegal Immigrant Roaming Free In ‘Sanctuary County’

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RIVERDALE PARK, Maryland — Deportation officers apprehended a registered sex offender living illegally in a “sanctuary” jurisdiction after he was convicted of false imprisonment and sex crimes, the Daily Caller News Foundation exclusively witnessed.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents apprehended 21-year-old Honduran national Darwin Adonai Garcia-Garcia in the early morning hours of Thursday, July 11. Garcia-Garcia’s apprehension came roughly two months after a local Maryland court chose to suspend virtually all of his 30-year prison sentence relating to his conviction for sex offenses and false imprisonment of a child, according to ICE. Authorities had previously charged him with kidnapping, abducting a child under 12, abducting a child under 16, assault in the second degree and a fourth-degree sex offense.

The DCNF was on scene to witness the apprehension, which took place around 6 a.m. outside his residence in Riverdale Park, Maryland. Numerous ICE agents staked out Garcia-Garcia’s apartment complex and waited for him to exit the building, which he eventually did, allowing agents to make an arrest outside in the apartment parking lot.

He did not appear to know any English, as deportation officers communicated with him solely in Spanish during the apprehension.

Border Patrol arrested Garcia-Garcia on December 4, 2018 after he illegally crossed into the U.S. near San Luis, Arizona, the agency told the DCNF. Border Patrol served the Honduran national with a notice to appear before an immigration judge and, the next day, he was transferred into ICE custody and subsequently released into the U.S.

Several years later, Garcia-Garcia was targeted by local law enforcement for his alleged abduction and sexual assault of a minor, according to ICE. He was arrested by Prince George’s County, Maryland Police on Jan. 4 and charged with kidnapping, abducting a child under 12, second-degree assault and a fourth-degree sexual offense.

The Circuit Court for Prince George’s County in Upper Marlboro, Maryland convicted him of a fourth-degree sex offense and false imprisonment on May 13, sentencing him to three decades in prison, according to ICE. However, the court subsequently suspended all but 229 days of prison sentence, allowing him to roam free in the country again.

ICE Baltimore became familiar with Garcia-Garcia’s daily activities and knew roughly when he’d be leaving his residence in Prince George’s County. The DCNF accompanied deportation officers as they staked out his residence Thursday morning and nabbed him as he was presumably on his way to work.

The apprehension took place without incident, with no apparent signs of him resisting arrest or attempting to flee the deportation officers. Garcia-Garcia remains in Enforcement and Removal custody, where he will presumably remain pending the outcome of his removal proceedings.

He is currently listed as a sex offender, according to the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services.

Baltimore deportation officers told the DCNF that they prioritize the apprehension of dangerous illegal migrants who pose serious risks to the local community, and they are seeking to increase their number of sex offender apprehensions.

It’s not entirely clear why the circuit court in Prince George’s County chose to suspend nearly all of Garcia-Garcia’s entire 30-year prison sentence, despite the severity of his convictions. The court did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the DCNF about the case.

Prince George’s County is listed as a “sanctuary” jurisdiction by the Center for Immigration Studies, an organization that seeks stricter enforcement of U.S. immigration law.

In the past, ICE has publicly criticized Prince George’s County specifically for local non-cooperation policies that, they say, protect criminal illegal migrants.

“The county leadership has chosen misguided politics over public safety,” the Baltimore field office director said at the time. “We aren’t asking Montgomery County or Prince George’s County to conduct immigration enforcement, we’re asking them to honor a lawful request to transfer these individuals into our custody where they can avail themselves of due process in the immigration court system.”

A spokesperson for Prince George’s County did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the DCNF.

AUTHOR

JASON HOPKINS

Immigration reporter.

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

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.

Here’s Why It Could Take Longer To Rebuild The Baltimore Bridge Than The Whole Transcontinental Railroad

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The effort to rebuild the recently collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge near Baltimore, Maryland, could quickly turn into a years-long quagmire as a result of environmental red tape under the Biden administration, experts told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

The Baltimore Bridge was struck by a container ship navigating the Patapsco River out of the Port of Baltimore in late March, sending several cars and workers into the water and rendering the passageway unusable. It is unknown exactly how long the bridge could take to rebuild, as officials could expedite the process, but experts warned the DCNF that government red tape, such as environmental reviews filed by government entities or environmental activists, could slow down its construction after debris is cleared from the site and new plans for a replacement bridge are drawn up.

“If the bridge gets special regulatory treatment, then five years is a reasonable timeline,” Ryan Young, senior economist at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, told the DCNF. “There is some hope for this, based on last year’s collapse of a stretch of I-95 near Philadelphia. It reopened in 12 days, mostly thanks to red tape being waived. It would have taken months otherwise. Of course, that was a much smaller project.”

Following the disaster, the Biden administration announced that it would be sending $60 million to the city of Baltimore to assist in the clean-up and rebuilding, far from the sum needed to rebuild the project fully. President Joe Biden has also pledged to completely cover the cost of reconstructing the bridge, pending Congressional approval, according to Reuters.

An official cost of a new bridge has yet to be announced, but some estimates are around $500 million up to $1 billion, depending on the size and design of the project, according to the AP. The original bridge cost just $60.3 million to build, according to CNN.

“The Key Bridge recovery can take multiple paths, but the two we need to be keeping an eye on are first, where is the red tape around environmental historical preservation bogging down the efforts to help this community recover, and second, what coordination is occurring at the federal level to effect a more resilient recovery for the community, who’s looking at what the vision is, long term,” Brian Cavanaugh, visiting fellow in the Border Security and Immigration Center at the Heritage Foundation, told the DCNF.

A similar bridge disaster occurred in 1980, when a freighter struck the Sunshine Skyway in Tampa Bay, Florida, according to The Associated Press. Construction on a new bridge finished 7 years later, in 1987, 19 months later than it was originally projected to be complete and $20 million over budget.

“Federal and state regulations, including in Maryland, give NIMBYs and environmentalists a lot of ways to block projects,” Young told the DCNF. “Hopefully the Key Bridge’s high visibility will help them restrain their worst anti-development impulses, but that is no guarantee.”

Many large infrastructure projects are often bogged down by environmental reviews, such as California’s high-speed rail project, which has spent more than $600 million on environmental reviews since it was approved by voters more than 15 years ago.

“My fear here is that people can generate environmental reviews that they flag concerns for, say the oyster population or if there’s a bird that breeds in the Patapsco River or water quality,” Cavanaugh told the DCNF. “All these things could easily be triggered through a federal review process and would drag on. Those reviews are not always efficient. The efficacy of those is to be determined by others, but they’re certainly not expedited.”

The Biden administration has expanded the national environmental review framework, rolling back changes that the Trump administration made to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), which requires federal agencies to review the environmental impacts of projects before approval. If the federal government remains involved in the project, environmental reviews may bog down the process, as the average NEPA environmental impact statement between 2010 and 2018 took 4.5 years to complete, halting construction completely, according to the White House’s Council on Environmental Quality.

“The rebuilding cost will almost certainly be higher than the original bridge, for several reasons, though I have no idea by how much,” Young told the DCNF. “A good rule of thumb is Edwards’ law—costs are usually at least double what officials first propose.”

Some analysts say that after cleaning up the site, creating new plans and building the bridge, the whole process could take up to a decade, according to WYPR, an outlet local to Baltimore. It took six years to build the Transcontinental Railroad.

“I fear that the cost of regulations is going to be more impactful than people are giving it credit for,” Cavanaugh told the DCNF. “Depending on what design they go with, like what birds fly in the area or what fish are in the Patapsco River, the cost of studying that and mitigating the negative impacts would be a problem. The mitigation measures to make the bridge more resilient and safe are going to be an added cost. But that’s an added cost not captured by inflation for any bridge built today.”

The Maryland Governor’s Office deferred the DCNF to statements made in previous press conferences. The White House did not immediately respond to a request to comment.

AUTHOR

WILL KESSLER

Contributor.

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Maryland: Muslim Teacher Says She’s Victim of Racism After She’s Suspended for Calling for Israel’s Disappearance

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A Muslim elementary school teacher in Maryland has filed a discrimination complaint after being suspended for using the phrase “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” as her email signature. More on the outraged, and outrageous, Hajur El-Haggan, can be found here: “Muslim school teacher says she’s victim of racism after being suspended for using ‘From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free’ as her email signature,” by Emma Richter, DailyMail.com, 

A Muslim school teacher in Maryland said that she is a victim of racism after she was suspended for using ‘From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free’ as her email signature.

Hajur El-Haggan, a math teacher at Argyle Middle School, was placed on administrative leave in November after she was told that her chosen signature was not allowed.

This was her school email, not her personal account. Students, parents, and fellow teachers would all be subjected, in their email correspondence with her, to this message: “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”

This phrase is a call for the establishment of a Palestinian state on all the land from the river Jordan to the Mediterranean Sea, and for the disappearance of the Jewish state. All of its Jewish inhabitants would be expelled or killed. Rightly understood, it is a call for ethnic cleansing, and the replacement of the only Jewish state by a twenty-third Arab one. It is understandable that the principal would not want one of his teachers displaying such a sentiment on a school account.

The Muslim and Arab-American teacher has since gone on to file a discrimination complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Maryland Commission on Human Rights against Montgomery County Public Schools.

‘I have co-workers who have “Black Lives Matter” in their email signatures, or links to their pronouns and what they mean. My quote does not fall into a different category,’ El-Haggan told KUTV.

She is wrong. Her quote is in a different category. “Black Lives Matter” does not call for ethnic cleansing or the destruction of a state and its people. Phrases about pronouns that have to do with self-identification as non-binary, similarly, are not a threat to the existence of anyone. “From the river to the sea” is such a threat; it means politicide accompanied by ethnic cleansing.

The complaint stated that after she was reprimanded by the school’s principal about her email signature, she offered to take it down, but they [sic] proceeded to tell her that she would still be suspended.

Even if El-Haggan had taken down that email signature, that would not have changed the fact that she supports the disappearance of Israel, and the removal of all of the Jews living now “between the river and the sea.” Isn’t that the real “racism” that is involved here, and not her suspension? She was not suspended because she is a Muslim Arab, but because of her support for the ethnic cleansing of Jews “from the river to the sea.”

The discrimination complaint, which has also been filed with the local Fair Employment Practices Agency, said that El-Haggan and her colleagues at the school ‘hold certain personal and political views regarding various social injustices.’…

Would a teacher who had made known his, or her, support for the KKK, or for neo-Nazi groups, be allowed to continue as a teacher? El-Haggan’s views are not merely “political,” but rather, a call for the destruction of a country and the ethnic cleansing — some might even say the attempted “genocide” — of its people.

The complaint also noted that besides El-Haggan, other teachers in the middle school ‘expressed opinions about various political and social matters.’…

But none of her fellow teachers called for what amounts to ethnic cleansing. 

‘Just like here in America, we have “From sea to shining sea,” it’s no different. It’s a call for freedom, peace, basic rights, and humanity and coexistence,’ El-Haggan said….

No, Ms. Al-Haggan. They are not the same. “From sea to shining sea” is merely the geographical description of a country — America — that is being celebrated as “beautiful/from sea to shining sea.” “From the river to the sea” is not a call for “freedom, peace, basic rights, and humanity and coexistence,” but rather, a malevolent call for the destruction of a state and its people.

The complaint also said that that three days before she was placed on leave, the Palestinian flag in her car that said ‘Free Palestine was cut off of her vehicle and written on….

Did she promptly report this act? It would be strange – should raise a skeptical eyebrow – if she had not done so. Or was this claimed attack dreamed up later to support her lawsuit, suggesting that she was living in a hostile, anti-Palestinian, racist environment?

The phrase ‘From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free’ has long been seen as a call for destruction by the Jewish population, but for the Palestinian community and their supporters, it has been seen as a peaceful call for liberation.

No, that phrase is not seen as a “peaceful call for liberation” by the Palestinians. They know exactly what it means — the destruction of the Jewish state and the expulsion, or killing, of its Jewish population. In this hoped-for future state of “Palestine,” only Israeli Arabs would be allowed to remain.

There is speech that is beyond the pale. Calling for the destruction of a state and its people, because of their religion, is such speech. It is reasonable for the Montgomery County School Board to want to protect its students from such speech, directed at the only Jewish state, just as it would want to protect them from teachers found to endorse the KKK or neo-Nazis. El-Haggan and her lawyer hope to convince the judge that “from the river to the sea” is an innocuous call for “peace and liberation.” It is not. And the lawsuit will be determined by whether or not the judge, or possibly members of a jury, understand its malevolent significance.

AUTHOR

HUGH FITZGERALD

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

Maryland: Marxist Teachers Union official makes list of wealthy Jews she calls ‘gluttons and thieves,’ blames Trump

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“Fear is leading to censorship. I hope this person gets anti-imperialism and joins us in the struggle … No war but class war!”

No Marxist should be getting anywhere near our schools, but today they’re in control. Meanwhile, this hate-filled creature epitomizes how the Left’s identification with the “Palestinian” jihad — which they cast as a struggle of the brown oppressed against the while oppressor — leads to open Jew-hatred.

Teachers Union Official Compiled List Of Nearby Wealthy Jews, Calling Them ‘Gluttons And Thieves

by Luke Rosiak, DailyWire.com, December 4, 2023:

A Maryland teacher is on leave while the school system investigates her for a string of anti-Semitic social media posts that included creating a list of wealthy Jews in her county, claiming they horde wealth while contributing nothing to society, and calling for “class war.”

Angela Wolf is head of the English Language Development department, which caters to immigrant children, at Takoma Park Middle School, in the most leftist enclave of liberal Montgomery County. Though she was temporarily removed from school, she remains a board member of the Montgomery County Education Association, one of the largest teachers union locals in the country representing 14,000 staff.

Her Facebook posts included a drawing of an Israeli tank pointing a tank’s gun at babies in a hospital NICU, and saying “enemy in sight!” As the war wages against the Hamas terrorists who murdered over 1,200 Israelis on October 7, she has posted frequently against Israel. On November 16, she commended “bus operators at Dulles who refused to transport Zionists to the pro Israel rally,” adding that “their solidarity with the victims of Israeli genocide should be commended.”

On October 28, she shared a post saying, “It is not a war — it is a slaughter. Israel determined to make Gaza uninhabitable.”

In December 2020, well before the conflict in Israel, she wrote:

Four of the five of the billionaires she named are Jewish except Saul, who happens to have a common Jewish name.

In response to criticism, she claimed — referring the the group of people with names like Rubenstein — that she had “no idea these billionaires are Jewish or that my word choice had an [sic] historic significance for the Jewish community. The diatribe against these two words has turned the discussion into a fallacious attack … People are angry at teachers or a particular politician or the poor. I have read no attacks on the 1% … who have NOT ‘earned’ ‘their wealth.’”

She said “they use their accumulated wealth to further their own interests” and blamed their hoarding for students falling behind while teachers unions refused to work because of COVID. “There should be little question that staying home should NOT equal mental health crises for kids and communities angry because school staff also need to be home,” she wrote.

When someone else criticized her for her anti-Semitic posts, she responded by calling former President Donald Trump a “scumbag” and said, “Fear is leading to censorship. I hope this person gets anti-imperialism and joins us in the struggle … No war but class war!”…

AUTHOR

ROBERT SPENCER

RELATED VIDEO: This Week In Jihad with David Wood and Robert Spencer

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EDITORS NOTE: This Jihad Watch column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Maryland CAIR Hissy-Fit: Will BLM Graffiti ‘Hate Crime’ be Another Hoax?

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It was earlier this month when we saw that the destruction of a Black Lives Matter sign at a church in Missouri turned out to have been the work of— wait for it—a black man.

Sorry move along, nothing to see!  No White supremacists lurking there.

Let’s see what happens with this latest gasp! shocker.  In the increasingly diverse Howard County, Maryland someone had the audacity to paint over the world BLACK on a Black Lives Matter sign at a Middle School.

I couldn’t find a photo of the defaced sign, but presumably the “disturbing crime” left only the words LIVES MATTER, a racist phrase if there ever was one!

Of course my first question is why is there a BLM sign at any public school?

And, that brings me back to my post of a couple of days ago when I wondered out loud why anyone is sending their kids back into public school when parents have just been given the opportunity to make the break!

And this one from a week ago:

Here is CAIR’s press release as the hunt intensifies for those wily White supremacists!

CAIR Condemns Racist Graffiti at Md. School, Welcomes Hate Crime Probe

(BALTIMORE, MD, 3/16/21) – The Maryland office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) today welcomed a hate crime investigation into racist graffiti reportedly discovered at Glenwood Middle School in Howard County, Md.The incident took place Saturday when the word “Black” in a Black Lives Matter marquee was spray-painted over.

[….]

Howard County Public Schools’ Superintendent Michael Martirano issued a statement condemning the incident and confirming that the graffiti was quickly removed. He added that the incident was being investigated by police as a hate crime. It read in part: “We believe the lives of our black and brown students and staff should not be diminished and devalued in this way. We reiterate our support for the fact that Black lives matter.”

“As schools resume in-person instruction after a long and difficult year, students deserve to know that they will be returning to a safe, inclusive learning environment in which hate won’t be tolerated,” said CAIR’s Director in Maryland Zainab Chaudry. “We look forward to learning the outcome of the investigation, and appropriate consequences for the perpetrators of this disturbing crime.”

Taking a trip down Memory Lane…

Back in 2013, several Maryland conservative Tea Party activists, me included, put on a conference in Annapolis and our featured speaker was the legendary Pamela Geller.

Of course CAIR busied itself trying to kill our gathering and our FREE Speech by intimidating the hotel where we had a contract. Fortunately the hotel stood firm and our conference went on.

They also attempted to intimidate other speakers planning to speak at the event.

I wrote about it here at my blog Potomac Tea Party Report, which I am delighted to see is still there! Chaudry had just appeared on the scene at that time.

CAIR-MD intimidating speakers at MD CAN (again!); boosts registrations!

Watch How ‘The View’ Treats Conservative Black Voices | Kim Klacik

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Dave Rubin of The Rubin Report talks to Kim Klacik (U.S. House candidate) about her recent appearance on “The View” and her argument with Joy Behar. Kim explains why there seems to be a double standard for how black women are treated on ”The View” depending on if they are liberal or conservative. She also explains why there are growing numbers of black Trump supporters and black conservatives. Finally, she explains why she is running for office in Baltimore and how 50-plus years of Democratic leadership has failed the black voters of her city.

©The Rubin Report. All rights reserved.

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Illegal Immigrant Child Rapist Released from Jail by Maryland Sanctuary County Remains at Large

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A Maryland county that offers illegal immigrants sanctuary keeps releasing dangerous criminals from jail to shield them from federal authorities, most recently a man from El Salvador who raped a seven-year-old girl multiple times. Rather than honor a detainer issued by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), officials in Montgomery County freed the child rapist on bond recently and he remains at large. Court documents obtained by a local media outlet say the 56-year-old, Rene Ramos-Hernandez, who reportedly lives illegally in Brentwood “forced unwanted sexual intercourse” with the girl “at least ten times.”

In a statement issued this week, ICE blasts Montgomery County officials for protecting illegal aliens who commit state crimes. “Montgomery County continues the practice of not honoring lawful ICE detainers and release potential public safety threats back into the community,” said acting Baltimore Field Office Director Francisco Madrigal. “When they refuse to give adequate notification of an impending release to allow a safe transfer of custody, it shows their actions are insincere. ICE believes the best way to protect public safety is for law enforcement to work together.” The agency’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) lodged a detainer with the Montgomery County Detention Center on June 19 and authorities blew it off, instead discharging Ramos-Hernandez on June 23. ICE was notified that the illegal immigrant rapist was let go, but officers at the Montgomery County jail refused to hold Ramos-Hernandez until ERO officers arrived at the facility, according to the agency.

Ramos-Hernandez has lived in the U.S. illegally for years. In fact, the rapes occurred from 2002 to 2003, when he was in his late 30s and the girl was just seven. The victim reported the crimes to Montgomery County Police in 2017 and it took almost two years for local authorities to track down the illegal alien. On June 18 he was booked at the Montgomery County Detention Center (MCDC) in Rockville on two counts of second-degree rape and one count of sexual abuse of a minor. The next day ICE lodged the detainer.  A Montgomery County judge granted Ramos-Hernandez a $30,000 bond and now the feds cannot find him even though bail conditions include electronic monitoring and curfew. Ramos-Hernandez was also ordered to have no contact with minors, which is a joke considering authorities do not even know where he is. He provided the court with a Brentwood address and claims to work as a “remodeler,” according to court records cited in the news story. He faces up to 70 years in prison if authorities ever find him.

This case is part of a national crisis generated by local governments around the country that offer violent illegal immigrants sanctuary. Under a local-federal partnership known as 287(g), ICE is notified of jail inmates in the country illegally so that they can be deported after serving time for state crimes or making bail like Ramos-Hernandez. Unfortunately, a growing number of city and county law enforcement agencies are instead releasing the illegal aliens—many with serious convictions such as child sex offenses, rape and murder—rather than turn them over to federal authorities for removal. The lack of cooperation has led ICE to resort to desperate measures, like striking preemptively by publicly disclosing convicts, complete with mug shots, scheduled to be released before they are actually let go by police in municipalities that offer illegal aliens sanctuary. A few months ago, ICE targeted six offenders incarcerated in two Maryland counties—Montgomery and Prince George’s—notorious for shielding illegal immigrants from the feds. Most were incarcerated for sexual crimes involving children, including rape and serious physical abuse that resulted in death. A couple of the offenders were jailed for murder and assault.

Besides Montgomery and Prince George’s counties, two other large Maryland jurisdictions—Baltimore County and the city of Baltimore—shield illegal immigrants from the feds and deportation. Maryland’s Attorney General, the state’s chief law enforcement official, issued a legal memo in late 2018 defending the practice. Complying with ICE detainers for criminal illegal aliens is voluntary, the Attorney General writes in the document, and state and local law enforcement officials are potentially exposed to liability if they hold someone beyond the release date determined by state law. In 2017, Baltimore’s Chief Deputy State’s Attorney instructed prosecutors to think twice before charging illegal immigrants with minor, non-violent crimes to shield them from Trump administration deportation efforts. This summer Montgomery County took an extra step to help illegal immigrants by launching a $10 million COVID-19 relief fund. Judicial Watch sued on behalf of two county residents and a federal court ruled that the payments likely violate federal law and irreparably harm county taxpayers.

EDITORS NOTE: This Judicial Watch column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Maryland School Denigrates Christianity, Promotes Islam — Case gone to Supreme Court

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A taxpayer funded public school in Maryland instructed its students:

“Most Muslims’ faith is stronger than the average Christian.”

“Islam at heart is a peaceful religion.”

Jihad is a “personal struggle in devotion to Islam, especially involving spiritual discipline.”

“To Muslims, Allah is the same God that is worshiped in Christianity and Judaism.”

“Men are the managers of the affairs of women” and “Righteous women are therefore obedient.”

Imagine the shock when 11th-grader at La Plata High School, Caleigh Wood, revealed this to her parents. More students and more parents need to actively need to get involved as Caleigh Wood did. She bravely stood up for her rights as a Christian. She stated that, as part of an assignment, she “was also required to profess in writing, the Islamic conversion creed, ‘There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah.’” For refusing to concede to the sharia and standing “firm in her Christian beliefs”, Wood was punished for it and given a failing grade for non-compliance.

Her case has now gone to the supreme court. “The Thomas More Law Center has submitted a petition asking the high court to take up the case of student Caleigh Wood.” Its president, Richard Thompson warned:

Under the guise of teaching history or social studies, public schools across America are promoting the religion of Islam in ways that would never be tolerated for Christianity or any other religion.

Jihad Watch reported on May 19th that a Washington school district was caught promoting Islam for Ramadan through a CAIR initiative. Now lawyers have sent a cease and desist letter. Islamization happens rapidly if unnoticed and unchallenged. Parents need to be paying attention to what their children are being indoctrinated with and taught in schools.

“U.S. SCHOOL FAILS CHRISTIAN STUDENT FOR REFUSING ISLAMIC PRAYER”, World Net Daily, May 19, 2019:

The declarations could have been made by an imam in a mosque sermon.

“Most Muslims’ faith is stronger than the average Christian.”

“Islam at heart is a peaceful religion.”

Jihad is a “personal struggle in devotion to Islam, especially involving spiritual discipline.”

“To Muslims, Allah is the same God that is worshiped in Christianity and Judaism.”

“Men are the managers of the affairs of women” and “Righteous women are therefore obedient.”

The problem is that those statements were part of the instruction in a public school in Maryland, and one of the students in the classroom now is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to condemn such religious lessons funded by taxpayers.

The Thomas More Law Center has submitted a petition asking the high court to take up the case of student Caleigh Wood.

“As a Christian and 11th-grader at La Plata High School in Maryland, Caleigh Wood was taught that ‘Most Muslims’ faith is stronger than the average Christian.’ She was also required to profess in writing, the Islamic conversion creed, ‘There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah.’ Ms. Wood believed that it is a sin to profess by word or in writing, that there is any other god except the Christian God. She stood firm in her Christian beliefs and was punished for it. The school refused her request to opt-out or give her an alternative assignment. She refused to complete her anti-Christian assignment and consequently received a failing grade,” the legal team explained Wednesday.

Lower courts have given a free pass to the school district to teach Islam, and so TMLC filed the request with the Supreme Court to decide “whether any legal basis exists to allow public schools to discriminate against Christianity while at the same time promote Islam.”

“Under the guise of teaching history or social studies, public schools across America are promoting the religion of Islam in ways that would never be tolerated for Christianity or any other religion,” said Richard Thompson, TMLC’s president.

“I’m not aware of any school which has forced a Muslim student to write the Lord’s Prayer or John 3:16: ‘For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life,’” he said.

“Many public schools have become a hot bed of Islamic propaganda. Teaching Islam in schools has gone far beyond a basic history lesson. Prompted by zealous Islamic activism and emboldened by confusing court decisions, schools are now bending over backwards to promote Islam while at the same time denigrate Christianity. We are asking the Supreme Court to provide the necessary legal guidance to resolve the insidious discrimination against Christians in our public schools,” he said.

Unresolved include whether or not schools can make preferential statements about one religion over another, and whether students may be required to assert religious beliefs with which they disagree.

And how do those concepts align with “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof”?

The Charles County public schools and officials are defendants.

The filing explains the lower courts, despite the First Amendment’s requirements, “upheld the ability for [the school] to denigrate Petitioner Caleigh Wood’s faith and require her to write out statements and prayers contradictory to her own religious beliefs.”….

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

Democrats pressuring Maryland Governor to ‘welcome’ Syrian Muslims

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Thanks to Richard at Blue Ridge Forum you can now see who the Maryland reps are who support the placement of Syrian Muslim refugees in Maryland.  See here.  So what are the Republicans going to do to come to the governor’s defense?

Even though Governor Larry Hogan can’t (as things stand now) stop the resettlement of refugees to Maryland, a group of Maryland Democrats are pressuring him to publicly welcome them.

The letter was initiated by Jamie Raskin (D) running for Congress using this as one more campaign stunt. But, voters make note that Raskin is advocating for more Muslims to be placed in Maryland.

jamin_raskin

Jamie Raskin (D)

And this is really stinky timing for the refugee pushers because the lead agency behind the pro-Syrian Muslim refugee lobbying campaign is none other than the International Rescue Committee that made big news yesterday because it is under investigation for fraud in Turkey where it is supposedly helping Syrian refugees.

If you are a new reader there is something you need to know when reading this story.

Governors do not have the power (yet) to stop the placement of third worlders into their states.

However, they do have the power to withdraw the state from the UN/US State Department Refugee Admissions Program as the governors of Kansas and New Jersey did in April. Although it causes bureaucratic confusion and brings media attention (both good things!), the gesture is meaningless unless the governor then files a States’ rights lawsuit that is waiting and ready to go at the Thomas More Law Center.

Frankly I don’t see Maryland’s Republican governor with that much gumption to protect the taxpayers of the state. I hope he proves me wrong!

As I mentioned above, be sure you read yesterday’s post on the corruption investigation of the IRC which is one of the primary refugee resettlement contractors operating in Maryland.

So below is a bit of the news yesterday at the Washington Post (emphasis is mine):

Several dozen Maryland state lawmakers, including Democratic House nominee Jamie B. Raskin, have written Gov. Larry Hogan (R), urging him to endorse the settlement of Syrian refugees in the state.

Hogan joined other governors last year in saying he would oppose the entry of refugees unless the federal government could provide specific assurances that they are properly vetted and do not pose a security threat.

State Department officials have said repeatedly that all refugees — including Syrians — undergo rigorous screening before being granted refu­gee status.

IRC Maryland

Ruben Chandrasekar

But Hogan spokesman Matt Clark said Wednesday that the governor’s position has not changed. “To my knowledge, the federal government has not provided any additional information on changes . . . in the process,” Clark said.

[….]

The letter was initiated by Raskin, a state senator from Montgomery County and the Democratic nominee to succeed outgoing U.S. Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D), and Dels. Brooke E. Lierman (D-Baltimore) and David Moon (D-Montgomery).

[….]

Ruben Chandrasekar, an official of the International Rescue Committee in Baltimore, said the agency has resettled 60 Syrian refugees in Maryland in the past two years and is prepared to place as many as 100 in the coming year.[99% of the Syrian refugees entering the US now are Muslims—ed]

“If President Obama follows through on his promise to bring in 10,000 Syrian refugees, we hope to have a very busy summer,” said Chandrasekar, whose organization worked closely with the advocacy groups that spearheaded the letter from lawmakers to Hogan.

Ruben Chandrasekar runs the Maryland office of the IRC and just yesterday it was revealed that his organization was being investigated for corruption involving Syrian refugees in Turkey.

Yeh, I will bet the IRC worked closely.  They are paid by the head to resettle refugees into your towns and cities and it is in their financial best interests to keep the spigot open.

Most refugees in Maryland go to Baltimore or Silver Spring, but hundreds of others are scattered around the state. Most recently a resettlement contractor was making inquiries in Hagerstown again.

If any reader finds a copy of Raskin’s letter, send it my way! We do need to publish the names of all who signed it.

And, don’t hold your breath that the Washington Post, which is happy to pimp for Raskin, will report on the corruption scandal surrounding the IRC!  The alternative media is on the story however, here Leo Hohmann at World Net Daily digs deeper.

RELATED ARTICLES:

African migrants now launching from Egypt

Major US refugee contractor, International Rescue Committee, embroiled in corruption probe

EDITORS NOTE: The featured image is of President Obama on February 3, 2016 at a Baltimore mosque.

Demographic and Economic Infographics of States Holding April 26 Primaries

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WASHINGTON, April 19, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The following tip sheet was released today by the U.S. Census Bureau:

In advance of the April 26 primaries, the U.S. Census Bureau presents a variety of statistics that give an overall profile of each participating state’s voting-age population and industries. Statistics include:

  • Voting-age population and estimate of eligible voters (i.e., citizens age 18 and older).
  • Breakdown of voting-age population by race and Hispanic origin.
  • Selected economic characteristics, including median household income and poverty.
  • Selected social characteristics, including educational attainment.
  • County Business Patterns (providing information on employment by specific industries).
  • Statistics on voting and registration.

Profiles are provided for the following states:

Connecticut
Delaware
Maryland
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island

cb16-tps50_graphic_voting_connecticut

cb16-tps51_graphic_voting_delaware

cb16-tps52_graphic_voting_maryland

cb16-tps53_graphic_voting_pennsylvania

cb16-tps54_graphic_voting_ri

Obama Addresses Terror Linked Baltimore Mosque which Practices ‘Gender Apartheid’

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President  Obama went to Baltimore for a friendly gathering at the Islamic Center of Baltimore Mosque in Catonsville, Maryland. He was there  to convey a message that Muslims are as American as apple pie. Problem is that he chose a Mosque deep into political Islam, affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood affiliate, the Islamic Society of North America , supporting suicide bombers  and professing  hate  for U.S. ally Israel.  All despite the FBI file sent to the White House confirming this information. No matter. It was a photo op moment to show support for embattled American Muslims  given statements from Republican  hopeful, Donald Trump that he would stop immigration of Muslims.

The scene was replete with introduction by a hijab swathed college student on track for a medical career. The President in his remarks pointed out another  hijab wearing  fencing marvel that may be carrying the U.S. flag at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janiero this summer. The President spoke of the kind comments of  founding Fathers John Adams, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson who purportedly included Mohammedans in the ambit of freedom of worship in America guaranteed by our First Amendment.

Problem is that he forgot to mention the real reason Thomas Jefferson had a copy of a Qur’an in his library at Monticello. A Qur’an, upon which , the first elected U.S. Representative Keith Ellison (D-MN) swore a private oath of office on January 4, 2007. I know I passed by his office with a clutch of TV cameramen recording this for posterity. Ellison was at the ISB gathering,  as was the second elected Muslim Congressmen, Rep. Andre Carson (D-IN).  Doubtless, as this was the President’s alleged first visit to an American Mosque, there may have been notables at the Mosque in Catonsville from CAIR and ISNA.  But not too worry this was kumbaya day at the ISB.

Watch the You Tube video of the President’s expansive, yet, cautionary message of support for American Muslims:

American Muslims  that he pointed out  in his remarks  assembled Ford automobiles in Michigan, built the first  continuous Mosque in  Cedar Rapids,, Iowa, served  honorably in the US military and some were buried in the hallowed ground of Arlington National Cemetery. Yes, there were those small pockets of extremists in the Muslim Ummah like ISIS or ISIL as he likes to call it with its self-declared Caliphate in Syria and Iraq. Barbarically beheading Christians, enslaving minority Yazidi women and children, destroying ancient cultures in the name of Allah, their God.  Then there are the extremist Taliban in both Afghanistan and Pakistan killing women, homosexuals and Christian infidels. Oh, we forgot the Mahdist Shia in Tehran who the President makes deals with to prevent a nuclear war, he thinks. Last year, they only executed 1,000 for crimes of gender, homosexuality and heterodox beliefs.

As to the reason why Jefferson had a Qur’an in his library, just recall their encounter in London with the Tripolitanian Ambassador in their roles as US Commissioners trying to understand why the Bey of Tripoli enslaved American sailors he seized along with their ships in the Mediterranean. Note this  Notable and Quotable in the Wall Street Journal:

From a March 28, 1786, letter written by John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, who were American diplomats at the time, to U.S. Secretary of Foreign Affairs John Jay reporting on their conversation in London with the ambassador from Tripoli regarding piracy by the Barbary States:

We took the liberty to make some enquiries concerning the ground of their pretensions to make war upon nations who had done them no injury, and observed that we considered all mankind as our friends who had done us no wrong, nor had given us any provocation.

The Ambassador answered us that it was founded on the laws of their Prophet; that it was written in their Koran; that all nations who should not have acknowledged their authority were sinners; that it was their right and duty to make war upon them wherever they could be found, and to make slaves of all they could take as prisoners; and that every Mussulman [Muslim] who was slain in battle was sure to go to Paradise.

Clearly, Adams and Jefferson knew something that President Obama doesn’t choose to admit in public.  That Islam is not the religion of peace and tolerance that its religious theocrats make it out to be.  Subsequently, as the Third President of the US, Jefferson would conduct a covert war that freed American hostages with a few Marines at the fabled ‘walls of Tripoli’ from the likes of the Sharia-mad Bey.

Leo Hohmann at WND, cited an Investigative Project Report by Steve Emerson giving details on why the FBI thought the ISB was a poor choice for the President for this encounter, “Obama.” Hohman cites Emerson  saying:

IPT founder and executive director  Steve Emerson told WND his organization was told by FBI sources that Obama was presented the evidence against the Islamic Society of Baltimore.

According to Emerson’s investigation, federal law enforcement officials told him they were asked about whether the Baltimore mosque had engaged in radical politics or was connected in any way to terrorism in the past.

“They prepared memos for the president’s aides that specifically laid out the sordid history and nexus to terrorism of the Islamic Society of Baltimore,” Emerson told WND.

So what did the president do?

“As he has done so many times in the past, he decided to ignore this evidence and still continue his plans to confer legitimacy on a mosque that has a history of having officials connected to Islamic terrorism and to this day still has officials making outrageously pro-terrorist statements that would seem to conflict with the president’s policies,” Emerson said.

The mosque is affiliated with the Islamic Society of North America or ISNA, which has its own sordid history.

ISNA was started by members of the international Muslim Brotherhood in the 1980s. The Brotherhood, founded in Egypt in 1928, is banned in many countries as an extremist organization.

“One can only conclude that the selection of this mosque by the president was made as part of his consistent policy to not even utter the term ‘radical Islam’ and the simultaneous policy of inviting only radical Islamist groups and leaders to the White House that FBI documents clearly show were derived from the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas,” Emerson told WND.

But there was another problem with the  choice of the ISB, the occurrence of gender apartheid prior to this auspicious occasion.

The media was  atwitter about the President’s  presentation at the Islamic Society of Baltimore. All of those media pundits should read this New York Times op ed by a leader of the Muslim Reform Movement (MRM), Asra Nomani and Ify Okoye, a disaffected member of the Mosque, about the gender apartheid practiced at the ISB, “Obama’s mosque visit demonstrates tacit acceptance of a form of gender apartheid.”

We have interviewed colleagues of Asra Nomani, Dr. M. Zhudi Jasser and Canadian leader of MRM, Raheel Raza who recently returned from a successful trip to Israel on The Lisa Benson Show. We hope to bring back Raza and introduce Ms. Nomani to discuss what the MRM is advocating and doing. Note what Nomani and Okoye wrote:

At the Islamic Society of Baltimore this past Sunday, the air was filled with the scent of Sherwin-Williams paint that workers were rolling onto the walls of the run-down balcony section where women and girls are usually segregated, unable to see the imam unless they peek over the balcony’s edge. A sign outside the door to the balcony said, “STOP Please. No Shoes. No Strollers. No Diaper Change. Beyond this point.”

Asra slipped into the mosque’s main hall to join the “halaqa,” or study circle. There, the study circle leader, teaching a half dozen men gathered around him, talked about the virtues of the first Muslim community in Medina, saying that a society isn’t “civilized” just because it’s technological.

Then, a young man, wearing a T-shirt emblazoned “Who Do You Love?” piped up, “So that means the West isn’t civilized.”

“That’s right,” the study circle leader said.

Another man railed against the West and its “atheists.”

Asra took a deep breath, listening to the sound of the crew white-washing the mosque for the president’s visit. “That’s a very unfair conclusion,” she said. “You are sitting in the West and railing against the West as not being civilized? It is not fair to make the assumption that the West ‘isn’t civilized.’”

The men tried to backtrack. They spoke with more nuance, before the study leader digressed again into the idea that those who aren’t Muslim act out of “self-interest,” while Muslims act out of an “order from God to do righteousness,” a point that Asra also politely refuted as motivated by “self-interest” and as an unfair representation of the many good people who aren’t Muslim.

As women and girls, we should be supported by policies that allow us to be part of such conversations. The president can support this urgent cause by speaking out against gender segregation in American mosques. In the spirit of the civil rights moment when whites stood with blacks, we hope men and women will refuse the privilege that “interfaith” events give them, and, in act of solidarity, stand outside with us on Johnnycake Road and the other pathways leading to the mosques in our world, advocating for equal rights for all.

So,  the President did what he wanted to do  with the ISB visit; show solidarity with the plight of American Muslims, sidelined by GOP hopeful Donald Trump.  He chose to avoid the advice of the FBI busily tracking down and arresting ISIS inspired lone wolves out to kill Americans on the streets here in the US that he Mosque leaders consorted with terrorist networks. That would upset  the President’s  alliance with the Muslim Brotherhood seeking their active participation in countering violent extremism and conducted a less than strenuous war against the Islamic State inspiring  tens of thousands from across the Ummah to join and practice the pure Islam in the self declared Caliphate.

EDITORS NOTE: This column originally appeared in the New English Review. The featured image is of President Obama at the Islamic Center of Baltimore in Catonsville, Maryland, February 3, 2016 – Source: Reuters.