This page is a backup. The primary version of this blog is HERE. The Blogroll. My Home Page. Email John Ray here. My other blogs: "Tongue Tied" "Dissecting Leftism" "Australian Politics" "Education Watch International"
"Political Correctness Watch" "Greenie Watch" "Western Heart" (A summary blog). Those blogs are also backed up. See here for details



March 30, 2023

Exactly WHERE will Australia's 650,000 new migrants live as the nation's housing crisis deepens

It's grossly irresponsible for the Feds to allow a migrant influx when housing is already so tight.  They clearly don't give a damn about the poor people who are bearing the brunt of the present shortage.  It's a long time since the Labor party cared about the worker


Concerns are growing over how Australia will cope with a record level of permanent migrants entering the country as the nation continues to battle a housing and rental crisis.

The Albanese Government is reportedly planning for a total of 650,000 new migrants to settle here by mid-2024.

Combined with estimates for next year, this means a total of 1.2million extra people will be living Australia in June next year compared to five years earlier.

The floodgates are being opened to skilled migrants, international students and those coming for family or humanitarian reasons, even though Sydney and Melbourne - home to more than half of those who have come to Australia in the last 20 years - have ultra-low one per cent rental vacancy rates.

SQM Research managing director Louis Christopher said surging immigration would make it even harder for people looking for a home to find accommodation, with weekly rents in Sydney soaring by 25 per cent during the past year compared with 22 per cent in Melbourne.

'We still remain very concerned for the situation in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane where most international arrivals first land,' he said.

'The surge in net overseas longer term and permanent arrivals relative to new residential property supply is ensuring extremely tight rental conditions remain with our two largest capital cities.'

Australia's rental crisis is so critical that some families are being forced to live in tents because there is a severe shortage of long-term accommodation.

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson was so fed up she tweeted her disgust at plans to see net overseas migration surge to 650,000 - which is the amount coming during 2022-23 and 2023-24 combined.

'Labor's record high immigration is literally forcing Australian families to live on the streets – and winter is coming,' she said. 'We have an unprecedented housing and rental crisis. We don’t have enough homes for everyone in Australia.  'Australia is in serious trouble.'

The accommodation shortage problem is widespread with Sydney having a rental vacancy rate of just 1.3 per cent compared with 1.1 per cent in Melbourne, 0.4 per cent in Perth and 0.5 per cent in Adelaide.

Brisbane's rental vacancy rate stands at just 0.8 per cent, SQM Research data showed.

Sydney and Melbourne housed 56 per cent of Australia's new migrants between January 2000 and August 2021, new Australian Bureau of Statistics data showed.

Australia's net annual immigration in the year up to September 2022 stood at 303,700 people - a 15-year high - taking the overall population above 26.1 million.

This was the biggest overseas increase since late 2008, and included skilled migrants, family reunions and international students.

The immigration surge is also coinciding with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese facing obstacles to his plan to build 30,000 homes under its Housing Future Fund.

Labor's plan to build new social and affordable homes during the next five years has met opposition from the Greens, whose support the government needs in the Senate to get the legislation passed.

A bill to establish the $10billion fund is being put to a parliamentary vote this week but Brisbane-based Greens MP Max Chandler-Mather, who holds the minor party's housing portfolio, is opposed to the program investing money in shares.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11913969/Sydney-Melbourne-taking-migrants-immigration-set-surge-650-000.html

*************************************************



March 29, 2023

'Revolting!': Ted Cruz Eviscerates Mayorkas Over Biden's Border Crisis

Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) did not hold back in his criticisms against Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas for the disaster the U.S.-Mexico border has become under his leadership.

Things became heated as Cruz asked Mayorkas if White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was lying when she had stated people are not walking across the border. Mayorkas refused to answer the question, instead saying Cruz was being disrespectful.

Cruz also asked if Mayorkas knew how many illegal immigrants had died at the southern border within the previous fiscal year.

"I do not," Mayorkas replied.

"Of course you don’t! I know how many died, 853!" Cruz bellowed, pointing to a chart showing the 853 deaths are signficantly higher than in years past, going as far back as the 1990s.

During the questioning, Mayorkas revealed he was unaware of what the bracelets looked like that human smugglers put on people to keep track of who has paid and who is set to be taken illegally into the country.

"These are modern-day leg irons because these are children being sold into sex slavery and you don't even know what they are! That is astonishing!" Cruz continued, pressing Mayorkas if he knew the number of children who have been sex trafficked at the southern border.

Mayorkas replied DHS is doing everything it can to go after human smuggling and trafficking operations.

"If you had integrity, you would resign… You're willing to let children be raped to follow political orders. This is a crisis. It's a disgrace and you won't even admit this tragedy is a crisis," Cruz ended.

Chairman Dick Durbin (D-IL) gave time for Mayorkas to respond.

"What the Senator said was revolting. I'm not going to address it," he replied.

"Your refusal to do your job is revolting!" Cruz shot back.

https://townhall.com//tipsheet/juliorosas/2023/03/28/ted-cruz-goes-full-bore-against-mayorkas-over-bidens-border-crisis-n2621222

***********************************



March 28, 2023

At least 37 dead after fire at migrant facility at Ciudad Juarez

A massive fire has broken out at a migrant processing center on the US-Mexico border, leaving at least 37 dead, according to local reports.

The inmates set mattresses ablaze to protest their conditions there. Bad move!

The deadly blaze engulfed the National Institute of Migration (INM) in Ciudad Juárez on Monday night, killing dozens and sending at least 40 victims to the hospital, some in critical condition.

The center is believed to be housing about 70 migrants, most of which are suspected to be from Venezuela.

Some had been detained by authorities just prior to the fire, according to local media.

Dozens of body bags were seen lying on the ground outside the center, an Efe reporter on the scene confirmed.

There has been no confirmation about what may have caused the tragic blaze, but local newspapers reported a disturbance inside the facility before flames broke out.

The facility is located near the Stanton-Lerdo Bridge, which links the US and Mexico over the Rio Grand River.

https://nypost.com/2023/03/28/at-least-ten-dead-after-fire-at-migrant-facility-in-mexicos-ciudad-juarez-reuters/

***********************************



March 26, 2023

70 Terrorist Watch List Encounters at Border. Real Numbers Are ‘Likely Much Higher'

The number of individuals on America’s terrorist watch list encountered on America’s borders is growing. 

Since the start of fiscal year 2023, Border Patrol has encountered 70 illegal aliens who are listed in the Terrorist Screening Database, also referred to as the terrorist watchlist, between ports of entry. The majority, 69, have been encountered on the southern border.  

“Five million illegal crossings in two years is obviously bound to include many known or suspected terrorists,” Rep. Clay Higgins, R-La., told The Daily Signal.

“Known or suspected terrorist crossing into America is likely much higher than anything reported,” the congressman said. “I would conservatively estimate over 1,000 since [President Joe] Biden and [Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro] Mayorkas have turned over operational control of our southern border to the cartels.”

Higgins, who sits on the House Homeland Security Committee, says “Biden and Mayorkas have essentially partnered with the Mexican cartels.”

Since the start of fiscal 2021, Customs and Border Protection reports more than five million encounters with illegal aliens at the southern border.  

In fiscal year 2022, 98 illegal aliens on the terrorist watchlist were encountered at the southern border. The total for all four years of the Trump presidency was 14.

“It should come as no surprise that immigration authorities are witnessing a surge in terror watch list suspects at the southern border,” Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., told The Daily Signal. “President Biden and Secretary Mayorkas’ open border policies are incentivizing the entire world—including many bad actors—to enter our country illegally via the southern border.”

Those listed on America’s Terrorist Screening Dataset include “known or suspected terrorists” and  “individuals who represent a potential threat to the United States, including known affiliates of watchlisted individuals,” according to Customs and Border Protection.  

In February alone, Border Patrol arrested 16 illegal aliens on the FBI’s terror watch list for attempting to enter the county illegally.  

“It’s unclear who these individuals are or their intentions,” Biggs said. “What is clear, as evidenced by the events that unfolded on September 11, 2001, is that only a handful of bad actors are needed to inflict catastrophic damage on this great nation.”

Rep. August Pfluger, R-Texas, told The Daily Signal he led the charge on the Homeland Security Committee last year to “force the Biden administration to reveal the number of known and suspected terrorists who are entering our country illegal via the southern border. The skyrocketing numbers should concern every American, especially our president.”

In fiscal year 2022, which ended Sept. 30, Customs and Border Protection reported a record 2.3 million land encounters with migrants at the southern border. Just since the start of fiscal year 2023 on Oct. 1, agents have encountered more than 1 million migrants at the border.    

“What can we do?” Higgins asks of the situation at the border. “We can restore Trump-era law enforcement policies, impeach Mayorkas, and marginalize the inaugurated POTUS until we can get Trump back in the White House, that’s what we can do, we the people.”

According to Biggs, the “Biden Administration can severely reduce the terror threat by restoring Trump-era border initiatives including the construction of the southern border wall, the ‘Remain in Mexico’ program, and enforcing immigration laws already on the books.”

Some Republican lawmakers have called for Mayorkas to be impeached over his handling of the America’s southern border.  

Biggs introduced articles of impeachment against Mayorkas in August 2021, when he was chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus. In February, Biggs filed new articles of impeachment against Mayorkas, saying in a press release that Mayorkas “is the chief architect of the migration and drug invasion at our southern border.”   

On Friday, California Democratic Rep. Juan Vargas said he might join Republicans in a vote to impeach Mayorkas if given the opportunity.  

“Secretary Mayorkas might come up for an impeachment vote because of what the Republicans have heard,” Vargas said. “I may vote for it, I may vote to impeach him, but not over those other issues – over this issue.”

Vargas’ dissatisfaction with Mayorkas stems from the Biden administration’s decision to allow the construction of a 30-foot border wall at Friendship Park in San Diego.  


Mayorkas visited the southern border Tuesday with Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs, a Democrat. Mayorkas and Hobbs met with Border Patrol in the Tucson Sector and met with local leaders about the challenges facing border communities.

https://www.dailysignal.com/2023/03/24/70-terrorist-watch-list-encounters-at-border-real-numbers-are-likely-much-higher-congressman-says

***********************************



March 24, 2023

The Flood of Border Blood on Biden’s Hands
 
A human trafficker killed a Texan grandmother, Maria Alvarez, 71, and her granddaughter, Emilia Tambunga, this week — just the latest victims of Joe Biden’s deadly open border. They were killed by Rassian Natery Comer, who evaded police while transporting 11 illegal immigrants in his van, two of whom were also killed.

“While I am heartbroken, I am also enraged,” protested Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-TX). “Enough is enough. Illegal immigration is killing Americans. We need to stop with the rhetoric and deliver solutions.”

But Biden and his leftist congressional cadres are not and never have been interested in solutions because, despite all the Leftmedia echo-chamber fake-news claims they are securing our border, they are not. Fact is, the Demos’ whispered policy is, and has been since Biden arrived, keep our border open, and the result is that an estimated 5.5 million illegal immigrants have entered the U.S. There has been no serious effort to close our border since Donald Trump left office.

That is precisely why Demos were AWOL this week when House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green (R-TN) convened his key committee members at the border to investigate (read: “expose”) the Biden administration’s open-border agenda. Among those testifying was Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz, who, when asked by Chairman Green if we have operational control of our southern border, responded flatly, “No, sir.” Green noted that U.S. Code stipulates that operational control means “the prevention of all unlawful entries into the United States, including entries by terrorists, other unlawful aliens, instruments of terrorism, narcotics and other contraband.”

Hmm … “terrorists, other unlawful aliens, instruments of terrorism, narcotics and other contraband.”

In the first six months of fiscal 2023, law enforcement agents have stopped 69 suspects on the FBI’s foreign terrorist watch list. That is on pace to substantially exceed the 98 interdictions in 2022.

However, in addition to the 5.5 million illegal immigrants Biden has, in effect, invited across our southern border, there have been 1.4 million additional border crossers who entered without being apprehended, those called “gotaways.” Given that actual terrorists are certainly more highly trained and skilled at evasion when entering the U.S., I wonder how many of those were among the 1.4 million who entered on Biden’s watch with their “instruments of terrorism.”

And regarding the flood of blood on Biden’s hands, consider the “narcotics and other contraband” that he has allowed across our border. White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre recently claimed, “Because of the work that this president has done, because of what we’ve done specifically on fentanyl at the border, it’s at historic lows.” Nate Jackson fact-checked that number: “More than 70,000 Americans died from a fentanyl overdose in 2021. … The death toll almost certainly went even higher in 2022.” Most of that fentanyl is being trafficked into the U.S. across our southern border by the Sinaloa and CJNG cartels after being mass-produced in Mexico with chemicals sourced primarily from China. The reports of enormous interdictions almost daily barely put a dent in that trafficking.

Additionally, amid the crime surge Demos provoked and promoted over the last three years, Republicans should demand from DHS and the FBI a national database on violent crimes committed by illegal aliens so there can be some accountability for that toll resulting from Biden’s open-border policy. Of course, the obstacle to reliable data is the same as it is with the FBI’s overall crime data — some Demo-controlled states and urban centers, especially those so-called sanctuary cities, will also conceal crime data committed by illegal immigrants.

As for the cost of illegal immigration to taxpayers, Heritage Foundation researcher Erin Dwinell notes, “The crisis now costs California $21.76 billion and Texas $8.88 billion annually in education, health care, law enforcement and criminal justice system costs, welfare expenditures, and more.”

Finally, Democrats have repeatedly claimed that Capitol Police officers who committed suicide after the J6 protests were “killed by the protesters.” Well, in addition to the rising body count of Border Patrol agents murdered by illegal immigrants, there were 17 Border Patrol officer suicides last year. Not a word from Democrats claiming they were “killed by illegal immigrants.”

Semper Vigilans Fortis Paratus et Fidelis

https://patriotpost.us/alexander/95805?mailing_id=7351&utm_medium=email&utm_source=pp.email.7351&utm_campaign=weekend_snapshot&utm_content=body

***********************************



March 23, 2023

Any benefits from illegal immigration?

There are about 14.3 million ‘unauthorized’ immigrants in the United States… a number that has done that has done nothing but go up since 2019.

According to the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) – The illegal immigrants who have entered since January of 2021 have added an extra $20.4 billion to the taxpayer tab.

That’s in addition to the $140 billion taxpayers already shoulder for existing illegal immigrants already in the country.

In fiscal year 2022, there have been over 2 million border encounters, up from 1.7 million in 2021.

It’s not just the exorbitant expense that’s hitting the American taxpayer – the unintended consequences can be reaching:

–  Wages and working conditions for legal Americans are being driven down.

–  Classrooms and limited affordable housing resources and natural resources are strained – if not entirely exhausted.

–  Very real national security threats surface, with the potential for increased crime.

Despite all of this, the impact of immigration on the economy over time is actually positive.

In short, immigration fuels the economy. When they enter the workforce, the production capacity for the country is increased – and the GDP goes up.

While there is an upfront expense that is shouldered by taxpayers, immigrants are statistically unlikely to replace native born workers. Instead, they end up taking lower paying jobs, pushing native born citizens to higher paying occupations.

Additionally, it’s good for business. Why?

Housing. You have to live somewhere and affordable housing giants like Dominum, LDG and The NRP Group have never been doing better. The three combined for over 7,500 unit starts last year alone. This in turn spurs new housing starts, also up by 15.6% last year. NewAmericanEconomy.com estimated that immigrants have added $3.7 Trillion to US Housing wealth.

Higher Education. More and more immigrants are getting their bachelor’s degree or higher according to the Pew Research Center. This means that for-profit education providers – not just universities and colleges benefit.
 
https://liftingliberty.com/news/border-blitz-the-truth-about-illegal-immigration-and-business/

***********************************



March 22, 2023

Fox News Catches Biden Administration Releasing Chinese Illegal Immigrants Into the US, Sparking Outrage

Fox News captured a video of Border Patrol agents along the southern border releasing illegal immigrants into the country, but these were not your average illegal immigrants.

They were not from Mexico or Central America; rather, they came from China.

On Monday, Fox News reporter Griff Jenkins posted a video on Twitter showing Border Patrol agents in the Rio Grande Valley rounding up a group of Chinese immigrants as they crossed illegally into the country.

But it only gets worse. The next day, Jenkins posted another video showing Border Patrol agents in Brownsville, Texas, releasing a group of Chinese nationals with notices to appear in court.

Apparently, they were released to an NGO because there is no room to house them at a regular facility.

This is beyond disturbing. Swarms of illegal immigrants from Latin America are troubling enough, but it is easy to understand how they are able to get into the country.

The fact that Chinese nationals are able to get into America illegally from the other side of the world shows just how delicate the situation is.

The state of relations between the U.S. and China makes this even worse.

China is perhaps our No. 1 foreign adversary, and the Chinese government is taking an increasingly aggressive stance toward Taiwan and the U.S., with many fearing that a war between the world’s two major superpowers is just around the corner.

With this in mind, people have naturally been wondering if these were not just illegal immigrants, but rather agents and spies sent by the Chinese government.

One of those is Sen. J.D. Vance, who responded to this development on Twitter by asking, “Will they spy on Americans? Collect intelligence on our military installations? Our own government apparently doesn’t care to find out.”

The Biden administration has to take this seriously. Border Patrol cannot just release these people with a slip of paper telling them when to appear in court, as it is more likely that they will just disappear into the population.

This is a huge national security threat, as citizens of a hostile foreign country are flooding into the U.S., possibly to harm the nation’s preparedness to wage war if necessary.

The crisis on the southern border is about more than just illegal immigration; it is about ensuring the country is safe from hostile foreign governments.

https://thefederalistpapers.org/us/fox-news-catches-biden-administration-releasing-chinese-illegal-immigrants-us-sparking-outrage

***********************************



March 21, 2023

Illegal Immigrants Attempting to Avoid Apprehension Still a Big Problem for TX Police

MISSION, Texas — The two Texas state troopers I was with took off running down the levee road we had been walking on, straining to see in the early morning darkness three illegal immigrants Border Patrol had spotted crossing the Rio Grande. The running started when two figures ahead of us could be seen sprinting over the levee trying to disappear into the brush.

As we got closer, a Border Patrol SUV moved to intercept one of the men who managed to make it down into the brush, while the other one gave up because he was tired and dehydrated. While Border Patrol agents rushed to track down the other man, Texas state troopers took the second man into custody and started the walk back to where we started. Talking with the illegal immigrant, we found out he was from Ecuador. He told us he was paying smugglers $30,000 to try to sneak into the United States. That shocked the three of us given those high prices are usually reserved for foreign nationals who come from countries like China, not Latin America, but it is known the prices to pay the different Mexican cartels increase the further away someone is from the U.S. southern border.

Before long, two Border Patrol agents came back with another man from the trio to start processing them. Over the radio, the last man was spotted going up a tree in an attempt to lose the agents chasing after him. Because the Texas troopers are only able to assist in apprehending, we left the Border Patrol agents to do their job of processing them.

While the Texas Department of Public Safety has deployed thousands of state troopers, assisted by Texas National Guardsmen, they can't be everywhere at once during the typical times smugglers and illegal immigrants try to slip past them after crossing the river. Not only does law enforcement have to stage themselves in areas common to see illegal activity, they also have to be on the lookout for cartel scouts who work on the Texas side. This was exemplified when the SUV we were using was parked near a road that came out from the Rio Grande's banks. A sensor had been tripped and the troopers were on the lookout for two vehicles that contained illegal immigrants. As we waited, one SUV slowly rolled past us in the front, while a pickup truck rolled past us from behind. We had been made.

Our driver had to reposition our SUV to lose the scouts, but the damage was done. The cars used a different exit further to the west of us and were able to get away despite the police's best attempt to catch up. The cars melted away into neighborhoods. While such cat-and-mouse games between police and smugglers were not uncommon before the Biden administration, all of what has been happening is now behind the backdrop of historic levels of illegal immigration.

Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz testified during a House Homeland Security Committee hearing the day before in nearby Pharr that there have already been approximately 385,000 known "gotaways" at the border since fiscal year 2023, which started in October 2022. There were approximately 600,000 known "gotaways" during all of fiscal year 2022. The illegal immigrants we were unable to intercept are considered to be "gotaways" unless they are caught further within the country.

"With the increased number of 'gotaways,' Texas DPS has maintained a proactive posture and bolstered security efforts in apprehending illegal immigrants who would otherwise go undetected and make it further into the interior of the United States. Through Governor Greg Abbott’s Operation Lone Star, DPS has encountered over 350,000 illegal immigrants and has made over 6,200 arrests for criminal trespass involving illegal immigrants who trespass on private ranches to circumvent checkpoints," DPS Lt. Chris Olivarez explained.

"Troopers working alongside U.S. Border Patrol have made numerous arrests involving brush guides who actively smuggle illegal immigrants across the Rio Grande River from Mexico into the country. This unprecedented enforcement effort sends a clear message to criminal smuggling organizations that DPS will arrest and prosecute those who violate state law and endanger the lives of those they smuggle," he added.

The Biden administration has claimed progress at the southern border since encounters have dropped with the rollout of the CBP One app, which allows certain nationalities to make an appointment to legally enter the U.S. to claim asylum, but encounters, over 150,000, is still historically high. Migrants in Mexico have become frustrated with the app because spots fill up quickly, which is why that was a contributing factor for the recent attempt by around 1,000 people to storm into the U.S. through a port of entry in El Paso, Texas.

Notably, Ortiz also stated the U.S. does not have operational control of the southern border, despite Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas testifying to Congress last year that the U.S. did have operational control. Democrats on the committee did not attend the official hearing even though a few did initially plan on going. They claimed they were not seriously planning on attending but sources say Democrats went as far as to book flights and hotels for the hearing.

"It's disheartening that the Democrat representatives did not attend the hearing. It is a very serious issue that requires a bipartisan solution. Their absence gives the appearance that they do not understand the urgency of the issue at hand," National Border Patrol Council Vice President Chris Cabrera told Townhall.

https://townhall.com/tipsheet/juliorosas/2023/03/17/illegal-immigrants-attempting-to-avoid-apprehension-still-a-very-big-problem-n2620803

***********************************



March 20, 2023

Five takeaways from Biden Border Patrol chief’s revealing testimony

Wednesday’s field hearing in McAllen, Texas, held by the House Committee on Homeland Security but boycotted at the last minute by Democrats on the committee, managed to expose the failure of President Joe Biden and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas’s open border policies.

It also put the Biden administration in a tough position, as its own Border Patrol chief made several statements at odds with the false narrative officials have sought to establish.

First, and most significant, was the very first answer of the entire hearing. Committee Chairman Mark Green (R-TN) asked Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz whether he believed the Department of Homeland Security has “operational control” of the southwest border.

Ortiz answered that he did not — a logical conclusion for anyone with basic observational skills, let alone a decadeslong veteran of the Border Patrol. However, this statement put him at odds with his boss, Mayorkas, who told the House Judiciary Committee last year that DHS did have operational control of the border. By any measure, Mayorkas is either lying or ignorant. We’re putting our money on the former.

Second, this wasn’t the only statement Ortiz made counter to the Biden line. He also told the committee the border wall system was a “helpful” tool in maintaining border security, and when asked whether it was a mistake for Biden to shut down border wall construction, Ortiz said, “Yes sir.” He even said five of nine southwest border sectors were not secure, again contradicting previous testimony from Mayorkas.

Ortiz has historically failed to challenge DHS’s devastating policies. Emails obtained by the Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project show he criticized the administration’s politicized response to the false “whipping” scandal in Del Rio but failed to contradict Mayorkas and Biden or defend his agents publicly. This hearing is a good starting point to change that pattern.

Third, Ortiz also revealed that the number of known got-aways — those who illegally enter the country and evade apprehension — is actually much higher than reported. Customs and Border Protection has recorded more than 1.4 million got-aways since Biden took office and opened the border, pulling thousands of Border Patrol agents off the line and forcing them into administrative duties, processing and releasing illegal aliens into the country.

Ortiz said the number could actually be 10%-20% higher than reported. That’s a shocking admission of how bad things are getting.

Fourth, Ortiz’s testimony took a sledgehammer to the Left’s absurd talking point that the fentanyl crisis is not connected to the border crisis.

“What we’ve seen this fiscal year is a 101% increase in fentanyl seizures in between the ports of entry,” he said. “So far, 1,117 pounds of fentanyl have been seized by our Border Patrol agents in between the ports of entry.”

Fifth, Ortiz stated that a major aspect of CBP’s mission under the Biden administration has become “the processing enterprise.” In other words, securing the border and apprehending those who come across illegally has taken a backseat to the processing and releasing of illegal aliens into the country as fast as possible.

That’s why the crisis continues. CBP has been diverted from its core mission to safeguard our nation’s borders, as has Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Per Biden’s own budget, money for CBP to pursue physical security improvements at the border will be cut by $14.7 billion over the next 10 years. ICE’s budget to detain and deport those here illegally will be cut by more than $21 billion.

In fiscal 2020, ICE set a target of 151,000 removals of illegal aliens with a criminal record. It achieved a respectable 103,762, even with the onset of COVID-19. This budget’s target? A laughable 29,389, despite tens of thousands more criminal aliens now in our country. And ICE only removed 38,447 such aliens in fiscal 2022!

Ortiz was finally forced to tell people the truth concerning the underlying cause of Biden’s open border disaster, which affects our nation’s safety and national security. It’s up to Republicans in Congress to fix it.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/restoring-america/patriotism-unity/takeaways-border-patrol-chief-testimony

***********************************



March 19, 2023

Imagine There’s No Migrants — It’s Easy if You Try

Article from the German news portal AUF1.info notes the generous treatment of "refugees" in Germany

A letter to the editor recently appeared in the Schwarzwälder Bote, which has since gone massively viral on social media. It has been shared thousands of times because it obviously strikes a chord with many people. Note from AUF1 Editor-in-Chief Stefan Magnet: “The author has really managed to get to the heart of the essentials in concise and short sentences. Total thrust reverse.”

We need migration because Germans don’t have enough children and the population is aging?

That can be changed: Let’s just imagine kindergartens springing up from the ground at the same breathtaking pace as asylum homes. Newborns receive €2,500 in welcome money. The state pays €33 a day for each child for their accommodation. The child benefit is increased to the Hartz IV level — including housing costs. Hundreds of do-gooders stand in front of the maternity hospital with bouquets of flowers. Public transport is free for children. Just like day care centers, sports clubs and universities. Hostility toward children is punished as hate speech. Lunch will be provided.

Kind-hearted citizens donate the first bicycle and the unemployed repair it. Free tutoring is provided for those with learning difficulties. When children come to school without breakfast, the Left and Greens are already in the schoolyard with food parcels. Poor, hyper-intelligent children no longer have to slave away as factory workers because the state recognizes their potential and pays the full cost of their education! Less intelligent people would no longer have to go into politics because a decent existence is secured for them, too, without causing any major damage. And the prisons would be emptier because we would no longer have to focus on the integration of foreign criminals, but on the natural integration of our children into a society based on solidarity!

Afterword from the translator:

Well, is there anything to add to that truth that has been written down here? It hit the nail on the proverbial head, and I’m pretty sure that the Office for the Protection of the Constitution is already watching this person as a dangerous radical Nazi and thought criminal. Right now they are most likely preparing a “false flag” event to take that person down. They’re just waiting for the MSM to have their media reports ready and their camera teams on-site, hours before they pounce

https://gatesofvienna.net/2023/03/imagine-theres-no-migrants-its-easy-if-you-try/#more-55333

***********************************



March 17, 2023

Biden Bends the Law for Those Here Illegally

The lawlessness produced by Joe Biden’s abandoned border is no secret, but a recent report involving two illegal aliens who allegedly shot a bald eagle sums up just how bad things have become.

Two illegal aliens from Honduras were arrested in Nebraska after allegedly shooting a bald eagle, the national bird of the U.S., with the intent of eating it for dinner, according to a report earlier this month from The Washington Free Beacon. The Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, which passed Congress in 1940, prohibits anyone from shooting down a bald eagle. Punishments for violators include significant fines and up to a year in prison. Despite the apparent violation of federal law, the federal government has been missing in action, and has not charged either of the aliens with a crime. The authorities in Nebraska were forced to release the two men, and both are scheduled to appear in court to defend themselves against misdemeanor charges later this spring.

Given that the statute alleged to have been violated is a federal one, this seems like a clear case where the federal government should step in and prosecute . At the very least, both men should be deported for violating the law by entering the country illegally, and then allegedly violating another federal law by shooting down the country’s national bird.

Right now, it appears that neither will happen. The law prohibiting the killing of bald eagles has been on the books for more than eight decades, and Americans who have violated the law have rightly been prosecuted. The most recent case occurred in 2017, when a 62-year-old Virginia man plead guilty in federal court to shooting down a bald eagle near his home. Yet, the federal government seems content to sit on its hands and allow two illegal aliens who allegedly committed the same crime to live freely in the U.S.

It is yet another example of the sanctuary culture that has eroded the rule of law in America. Under the leadership of Joe Biden and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, the federal government seems resistant to applying the laws to illegal aliens in the same way it is applied to American citizens.

Perhaps this is why more than 5.5 million illegal aliens have entered the U.S. since the current administration took office, according to a study from the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR). It is likely one reason why so many illegal aliens have decided to cross our border recently, because they understand there will be no consequences for their actions, even if they commit another crime while in the country.

Criminal illegal aliens ranging from the organized criminals in the cartels to petty street criminals are not stupid. They understand that illegal aliens are being given special treatment by the Biden Administration, and are exploiting this reality to profit from  violence against migrants, Americans, and the rule of law itself.

Of course shooting a bald eagle, while deplorable, is far from the worst crime alleged to have been committed recently by illegal aliens. Kayla Hamilton, a 20-year-old autistic woman from Maryland was allegedly murdered by an MS-13 gang member earlier this year. That is just one from a list of too many murders and violent attacks committed in this country by those who have no legal right to be here.

This culture of lawlessness builds upon itself, and crimes by those within America’s growing illegal alien population will only grow until something is done about it.

The U.S. is currently facing a violent crime wave here at home. The last thing Americans need is for their government to import criminals from other countries. In order for our government to have the support of the people, laws must be uniformly enforced, not malleable according to the political agendas of those in power at the moment.

The two illegal aliens who allegedly shot down a bald eagle in Nebraska are just the latest foreign nationals to break our immigration laws, then violate our criminal laws once in the country. Yet, the Biden Administration seems content to allow them to disappear into our society, alongside the millions of other people who have entered the U.S. illegally during their tenure. It is a national tragedy and an international disgrace.

https://townhall.com/columnists/dalewilcox/2023/03/15/biden-bends-the-law-for-those-here-illegally-n2620596

***********************************



March 16, 2023

The March 12 Incident On The Paso Del Norte Bridge confirms the U.S.-Mexico border is once again a war zone.

The March 12 Incident is an outrage that demonstrates the U.S. is currently under continuous hybrid war assault.

The hybrid war's current weapons: deadly drugs (fentanyl), human trafficking (to include child sex and work slavery), migrants sapping social welfare dollars budgeted for deprived American citizens and noncitizens voting illegally.

Illegal votes equal hijacked U.S. elections.

Don't exclude these horrors: enemies evading border controls to spread infectious diseases and terrorists masked as illegal aliens who use porous and undefended borders to enter the U.S. and embed as "sleeper agents" for future enemy action.

Video cameras on the Mexican side captured the human wave assault's initial surge. A swarming thousand -- overwhelmingly male -- funnels into the bridge and below a sign reading "Feliz Viaje" (bon voyage) attempt to physically overrun security personnel and break into the U.S.

The personnel to mob would crush and stomp: Border Patrol agents, local and state police -- blue-collar American citizens with badges suddenly outnumbered 10 to one and defending the U.S. from invasion.

A justified question: If the American security personnel under human wave assault had fired a shot, would President Joe Biden have called them bigoted "racistracistracists"?

In 2021 Biden excoriated innocent Border Patrol agents with leftist epithets. Recall the agents were reining horses, not whipping illegal Haitian immigrants. But Biden condemned his own police and promised they'd "pay" for... pay for doing their job responsibly and with restraint.

Apparently, no shots were fired on March 12. Media report U.S. and Mexican security officers used their physical presence (their bodies) to stop the human wave.

Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, told Fox News Digital that Mexican drug cartel propaganda spurred the attack. He said the crowd had heard March 12 was the "Day of the Migrants." They would be "allowed in the United States via the port of entry." The mob "essentially overran the port, at least on the Mexican side," Gonzales said; "...disinformation just gets spun and it becomes a dangerous situation for everybody."

Disinformation happens a lot in America. The chief culprit is leftist media corruption. Evidence: three years of Hillary Clinton's "RussiaRussiaRussia" lies that won a Pulitzer Prize.

Gonzales added Biden needs to "show action" on the border and "words" won't address the crisis. Gonzales also wants to "label cartels as terrorist organizations."

They are terrorists, but they are also enemy allies in a broader war. I called the March 12 Incident an act of hybrid war. Various media reports claim Mexican drug cartels perpetrated the Day of the Migrants lie. The bridge assault would distract American security so cartel operatives could smuggle drugs and people in undefended border sectors.

Here's a hint as to the big enemy: An unarmed thousand-man rush invasion is somewhat comparable to China's sea militia schtick -- poor, unarmed fishermen claiming fishing rights in Filipino waters. Unarmed men provide plausible deniability and a feel-sorry story bribed media propagandists will tout as evidence of capitalist callousness or "racistracistracist."

In June 2019 StrategyPage.com reported that nongovernmental organizations that support unrestricted migration into America had cooperated with Mexican cartels to bring illegal aliens into the U.S. Moreover, in the 1990s Chinese syndicates nicknamed "snakeheads" began moving "illegals in large numbers" into North America. "Nearly three decades later the mechanics of these international people smuggling operations were well known and when the conditions were right the international angle showed up again..."

Right -- communist China. China is the world's primary source of fentanyl. Beijing either ships directly to the U.S. or smuggles it via Mexico.

In 2017 the National Interest sardonically called China's strategy the "Reverse Opium War." From 1839-1842 China's Qing dynasty went to war with Britain to stop the Brits from selling opium in China. The drug threatened Chinese social cohesion.

Illegal entry into the U.S. violates just laws that protect American citizens. Trafficking illegal drugs is criminal. From April 2020 to April 2021, over 100,000 Americans died of drug overdoses, and fentanyl was involved in two-thirds of the deaths. That's not just an attack on social cohesion. That's mass murder.

https://townhall.com/columnists/austinbay/2023/03/15/the-southern-border-is-a-hybrid-war-zone-n2620606

***********************************



March 15, 2023

House Democrats Once Again Show They Are Not Serious About the Border Crisis

House Democrats on the Homeland Security Committee will not be in McAllen, Texas for the field hearing about the ongoing crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border.

This is the second time Democrats on a House committee are refusing to attend a field hearing at the southern border. Democrats on the Judiciary Committee refused to attend the hearing in Yuma, Arizona that took place in February.

"It’s deeply disappointing that the Minority members of the Committee have chosen to bail on this week’s full committee field hearing in Texas, only after they invited and confirmed a minority witness for one of the panels," Chairman Mark Green (R-TN) said in a statement to Fox News. "The only message their absence sends is that they are uninterested in coming to the table to have a conversation about the devastation that this border crisis is having on Americans and their communities across the country. We will continue to encourage our Democrat colleagues to get out of the DC echo chamber and meet Americans where they are to discuss the biggest issues facing them."

Ranking Member Bennie Thompson (D-MS) accused Republicans of trying to score political points by having the hearing at the border.

"Committee Democrats are in regular contact with Department leadership and stakeholders on the ground and will be taking substantive site visits to the border - including as soon as this week," he added.

The hearing on Wednesday will feature testimony from Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz and Texas Department of Public Safety Director Colonel Steven McCraw.

https://townhall.com/tipsheet/juliorosas/2023/03/14/house-democrats-once-again-show-they-are-not-serious-about-the-border-crisis-n2620574

***********************************



March 14, 2023

Angry Federal Judge Orders Biden’s DHS: End Mass Parole of Illegal Aliens

In a scathing opinion on Wednesday that questions the credibility of the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. District Court Judge T. Kent Wetherell II for the Northern District of Florida has ordered a stop to the Biden administration’s “Parole Plus Alternatives to Detention” (“Parole+ATD”) policy that has been illegally releasing hundreds of thousands of aliens into the U.S., concluding that it violates the Administrative Procedure Act, which governs rulemaking by federal agencies.

In Florida v. U.S., the state of Florida is claiming that the DHS is violating the mandatory detention required in federal immigration law by releasing aliens “en masse through various, non-detention policies, including the Parole+ATD policy and the exercise of ‘prosecutorial discretion.’”

The Biden administration claims it has “the discretion not to detain aliens, notwithstanding the mandatory language” of federal law. Parole+ATD is the Biden administration’s name for one of its many parole programs under its general “catch and release” policy, which the Obama administration also used, but which President Donald Trump ended.

Federal immigration law could not be clearer about the illegality of what DHS is doing. Section 1225 of Title 8 of the U.S. Code says aliens who arrive without proper admission documents are subject to expedited removal “without further hearing or review.” In other words, they are to be turned back immediately.

If aliens arriving illegally claim they are entitled to asylum because they are being persecuted, the statute says the aliens “shall be detained” pending a final determination of whether their claim is valid, which in the overwhelming number of cases is fraudulent.

In all other cases, unless an immigration official determines that, as Wetherell wrote in his opinion, the alien “is clearly and beyond a doubt” entitled to be admitted, the alien “shall be detained” for removal proceedings.

Wetherell stated that there is no question that there “is an immigration ‘crisis’ at the Southwest Border” that is “unsustainable.” Rejecting the Biden administration’s claims to the contrary, Wetherell found that the DHS has “effectively turned the Southwest Border into a meaningless line in the sand and little more than a speed bump for aliens flooding into the county by prioritizing ‘alternatives to detention’ over actual detention and by releasing more than a million aliens into the county – on ‘parole’ or pursuant to the exercise of ‘prosecutorial discretion’ under a wholly inapplicable statute.”

Standing to Sue

Florida, he said, had standing to sue, since the state “has incurred substantial costs in providing public services” to the minimum of 100,000 aliens who have been released in Florida by DHS and who “would not have been in the state but for the challenged policies.” That 100,000 figure represents the number of Florida addresses given to DHS by illegal aliens being released.

When DHS argued that the court could only “assume” that the aliens were in Florida since they might have given a Florida address, but don’t actually reside there, Wetherell pressed the government lawyer “on why the self-reported addresses were good enough for DHS to rely on to keep tabs on the released aliens, but not good enough for the Court to rely on in making a finding that the aliens were where they said they were going to be.”

According to the judge, the government’s “counsel was initially stumped (although the long pause and blank look on counsel’s face does not come through in the transcript) before conceding that it would not be unreasonable to rely on this data.”

Talk about a classic example of a lawyer being hoisted on his own petard.

‘Come In, We’re Open’

The judge pointed out that even the witnesses for the Biden administration admitted that “there is nothing inherently inhumane or cruel about detaining aliens pending completion of their immigration proceedings.” Detention, said the judge, “is the surest way to ensure that an alien will not abscond pending completion of their immigration proceedings,” which has become the norm for the illegal aliens released into the country.

In fact, all of the open-border policies implemented by the Biden administration, including the mass release of aliens, “were akin to posting a flashing ‘Come In, We’re Open’ sign on the southern border.”

In a footnote, Wetherell said this was an “appropriate analogy, not only because it is a fair characterization of what” the administration is doing, but because DHS argued at trial that it “could not simply hang a ‘Closed’ sign on the border.”

Wetherell called that claim “disingenuous” since federal law “specifically authorizes the President to ‘suspend the entry of all aliens’ whenever he finds that their entry would be ‘detrimental to the interests of the United States.’”

The evidence showed that the “unprecedented ‘surge’ of aliens that started arriving … almost immediately after President [Joe] Biden took office and that has continued unabated over the past two years is a predictable consequence of these actions.”

Policies ‘Incentivized’ Migration

The chief of the Border Patrol testified that there are such increases in immigration “when there are no consequences,” and aliens know “they will be released into the country.” The Biden administration’s policy of no consequences and immediate release “incentivized” migration by illegal aliens into the U.S.

The DHS tried to argue that the huge increase in illegal aliens being released was “attributable to something other than a change in policy (such as the post-pandemic increase in migration),” but the judge said that claim was “simply not credible and is contrary to the weight of the evidence.”

DHS also tried to claim that its release of aliens was due to not having enough detention space. But, as Wetherell pointed out, in contrast to the Trump administration, which submitted budget requests for increased detention space, the Biden administration has been steadily closing detention facilities and reducing the appropriations requested for detention space.

As the judge said, the Biden DHS was acting “like a child who kills his parents and then seeks pity for being an orphan,” adding:

[It’s hard] to take Defendant’s claim that they had to release more aliens into the country because of limited detention capacity seriously when they have elected not to use one of the tools provided by Congress … and they have continued to ask for less detention capacity.

‘Criminal Histories or Not’?

These mass parole policies don’t just violate the law; they are dangerous. The DHS claimed in court that “it is screening arriving aliens … to determine if they are a public safety threat.” But, as Wetherell concluded, “the more persuasive evidence establishes that DHS cannot reliably make that determination [because] DHS has no way to determine if an alien has a criminal history in his home country unless that country reports the information to the U.S. government.”

The DHS was “mainly only screening aliens at the border to determine if they have previously committed a crime” in the U.S. This was almost useless, since “many of these aliens are coming to the United States for the first time, [and] DHS has no idea whether they have criminal histories or not.”

Wetherell held that the Parole+ATD Policy “is unlawful,” and he vacated it, remanding it to DHS “for further proceedings consistent” with his order. For the sake of the country, we can hope this ruling makes some difference in limiting the disastrous open-border policies pursued by Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and the president.

But there’s no guarantee: Mayorkas is using many varieties of parole programs to release illegal aliens en masse into the country. He is clearly on a mission to wave in as many illegal aliens as possible, in contravention of the immigration laws enacted by Congress, and he has already flouted several court orders in pursuit of that goal

https://www.dailysignal.com/2023/03/13/federal-judge-castigates-dhs-orders-stop-mass-paroling-illegal-aliens

***********************************



March 13, 2023

8 dead, more missing after migrant boats capsize off San Diego

Eight people died after two boats carrying migrants collided and capsized off the coast of San Diego — with at least seven others still missing on Sunday, local officials said.

Authorities were alerted to the wrecks shortly after 11:30 p.m. when a woman called 911 saying she had traveled from Mexico in a boat that overturned, leaving several people stranded, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported.

Initial recovery efforts by the San Diego Lifeguards off Black’s Beach near Torrey Pines were hampered due to heavy fog. “We couldn’t get any helicopters up,” San Diego Fire-Rescue’s deputy chief of operations Daniel Eddy told OnScene TV.

“We had boats in the water, but at first light, once all the conditions clear, we will have Coast Guard out here and San Diego Fire-Rescue and lifeguards doing a joint search through the water for any possible victims that are left.”

According to Eddy, the two boats churned up an 800-yard debris field across Black’s Beach, which is jointly maintained by the city and the state.

A Coast Guard frigate was dispatched to the area, as well as San Diego police and Customs and Border Protection officers, the Union-Tribune said.

Up to 18 migrants are believed to have been traveling on the two vessels, the Times of San Diego said.

A videographer from the scene told the outlet that the bodies of men and women washed up on shore for several hours.

Eric Lavergne, special operations supervisor for the U.S. Border Patrol’s San Diego sector, told the La Jolla Light on Sunday that the incident was likely “one of the most deadly maritime events in San Diego’s history.”

The remains of two panga boats, or small fishing vessels, as well as life jackets and fuel barrels, were also recovered, KGTV reported.

https://nypost.com/2023/03/12/8-dead-more-missing-after-migrant-boats-capsize-off-san-diego/

***********************************



March 12, 2023

Hiring Illegals Is Often a Crime

A new report from the Center for Immigration Studies highlights a key tool Congress provided to control illegal immigration – employer sanctions. Congress found it necessary to pass employer sanctions legislation because illegal immigrants come to the United States primarily to find jobs; as long as employers hire illegal workers, illegal immigrants will continue to arrive. The law makes available both civil and criminal penalties for employers. The criminal penalties, however, have no impact if they are not used, which they rarely have been.

Almost four decades ago, Congress established employer sanctions with the passage of the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA), making it unlawful for employers to knowingly hire and employ illegal aliens and incorporating civil penalties. IRCA also made employers criminally liable for engaging in a pattern or practice of doing such and potentially liable for the preexisting crime of “harboring” illegal aliens. In 1996, the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act established a separate criminal offense for the knowing hiring of at least 10 illegal aliens known by the employer to have been smuggled into the U.S., and made harboring illegal aliens a predicate offense for the purpose of prosecutions and civil enforcement under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act.

George Fishman, the Center’s senior legal fellow and author of the report, said, “the Department of Justice is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of a pattern and practice of failing to seek criminal penalties for employers who knowingly employ illegal aliens. This must change if the promise of employer sanctions is ever to be realized. Border security alone will not solve the illegal immigration problem.”

The Center’s new report recommends statutory changes that can aid federal prosecutors in meeting their burden of proof to convict the employers of illegal immigrants of criminal violations and help turn off the job magnet.

https://cis.org/Report/Hiring-Illegals-Crime

***********************************



March 10, 2023

Judge Blocks Biden Policy of Releasing Detained Migrants at the Border

Saying that America’s border under the Biden administration has become “little more than a speedbump for aliens flooding into the country,” a federal judge in Florida has blocked a new policy allowing the federal government to release asylum-seeking migrants pending subsequent immigration hearings.

The policy — known as Parole+ATD — allowed Immigration and Customs Enforcement to release migrants into the country if they cross the border illegally, with the requirement that they report to ICE by using traceable cell phones or by wearing ankle monitors.

Judge T. Kent Wetherell of the Northern District of Florida ruled on Wednesday that the policy violated the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, which states that “the alien ‘shall be detained’ pending a final determination of asylum or credible fear of persecution.”

Florida’s attorney general, Ashley Moody, brought the lawsuit to federal court in January, citing the drain on public resources that accompanies unlimited immigration flows and the threat of fentanyl trafficking.

“The Biden administration is releasing tens of thousands of migrants at the border every month. Many of these migrants are arriving or will arrive in Florida, harming the state’s quasi-sovereign interests and forcing it to incur millions of dollars in expenses,” the lawsuit said.

In his ruling, Judge Wetherell wrote that the administration “effectively turned the Southwest Border into a meaningless line in the sand and little more than a speedbump for aliens flooding into the country.” He added that “there is nothing inherently inhumane or cruel about detaining aliens pending completion of their immigration proceedings.”

The policy director for the American Immigration Council, Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, said the ruling is likely to lead to a backlog of immigrants stuck in detention centers at or near the border, such as occurred frequently during the Trump administration and the early days of Mr. Biden’s tenure.

In 2019, overcrowded detention centers at the border became a cause celebre for Democratic members of Congress and presidential candidates — including the current vice president — who traveled to the southern border to decry the policies of President Trump. Mr. Reichlin-Melnick said the judge’s ruling could lead to a repeat of those overcrowded conditions.

“If the Border Patrol doesn’t have the ability to use Parole + ATD, it’s going to severely impact the agency’s ability to get people out of border detention centers,” Mr. Reichlin-Melnick said on Twitter.

According to the Center for Immigration Studies, 338,000 migrants were released from border patrol custody under Parole+ATD and allowed into the United States in 2022. Since the beginning of this year, the Customs and Border Patrol has released another 290,000 migrants.

The ruling comes as President Biden is weighing a number of changes to his immigration policies ahead of a likely re-election announcement. According to the New York Times, Mr. Biden is considering reinstating the family detention policy that he railed against during the presidential campaign in 2020.

The homeland security secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas, told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour that “no decision has been made” with respect to detaining or separating families.

https://www.nysun.com/article/judge-blocks-biden-policy-of-releasing-detained-migrants-at-the-border

***********************************



March 9, 2023

Federal Judge Hands Major Defeat to Biden Border Policies, Use of Mass Parole for Migrants is Illegal

In a win for sanity a federal judge in Florida just struck down Biden’s use of parole as a way to mass release illegal immigrants into the country and accusing the administration of turning our county’s border into a “meaningless line in the sand.”

Via Fox News:

Judge T. Kent Wetherell ruled in response to a lawsuit from the state of Florida, which alleged the administration’s mass release of tens of thousands of migrants via humanitarian parole into Alternatives to Detention — known as “Parole +ATD” — is unlawful.

In a scathing opinion Wednesday, Wetherell stated the Biden administration had “effectively turned the Southwest Border into a meaningless line in the sand and little more than a speedbump for aliens flooding into the country.”

Additionally, Wetherell ruled that the policies implemented by the Biden administration, including catch and release, had contributed to the degradation of the border as a means to keep illegal migrants out.

“Today’s ruling affirms what we have known all along, President Biden is responsible for the border crisis and his unlawful immigration policies make this country less safe. A federal judge is NOW ordering Biden to follow the law, and his administration should immediately begin securing the border to protect the American people,” Republican Florida Attorney General Moody said in a statement following the ruling.

…..

“The evidence establishes that Defendants have effectively turned the Southwest Border into a meaningless line in the sand and little more than a speedbump for aliens flooding into the country by prioritizing “alternatives to detention” over actual detention and by releasing more than a million aliens into the country—on “parole” or pursuant to the exercise of “prosecutorial discretion” under a wholly inapplicable statute—without even initiating removal proceedings,” the judge said, siding with Florida.

“There is nothing inherently inhumane or cruel about detaining aliens pending completion of their immigration proceedings,” he said.

It’s about time this happened and kudos to the judge for taking a stand based on the rule of law.

Expect the Biden administration to appeal and ignore the order meaning for now at least not much will change on the ground.

That said this is still a win, and these days will take all of the wins, no matter how small, we can get.

https://thefederalistpapers.org/us/federal-judge-hands-major-defeat-biden-border-policies-use-mass-parole-migrants-illegal

***********************************



March 8, 2023

Toll of Border Crisis on States: Texas

As the border crisis rages, each state feels its own financial and human toll from the influx of illegal aliens who get help from the Biden administration to make their way into the interior of the United States and into every congressional district in the country.

This is Part 2 in a series about the toll that the federal government’s intentional promotion of illegal immigration is taking on the states and their citizens. (Read Part 1 here.)

The border state of Texas and Gov. Greg Abbott remain in the spotlight as the people there face some of the biggest hardships of any state two years into the Biden border crisis.

By 2021, Texans were already paying between $579 million and $717 million annually to provide medical care for illegal aliens, $152 million per year to house criminal illegal aliens in prisons, between $31 million and $63 million each year on education for unaccompanied alien children, and between $30 million and $38 million annually on perinatal coverage for illegal aliens through the Children’s Health Insurance Program.

One Midland, Texas, hospital reported in 2021 that the Biden border crisis cost it over $200,000 for the treatment of 40 children who crossed the border illegally over a two-month period after the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services opened an emergency intake facility in its city.

In that same year, the Texas Legislature had to appropriate almost $3 billion to support the state’s border security efforts in the 2022-2023 budget cycle. For reference, in the past, the Legislature had appropriated $452 million across five-year terms for border security.

Operation Lone Star was launched in 2021 to “use available resources to enforce all applicable federal and state laws to prevent the criminal activity along the border, including criminal trespassing, smuggling, and human trafficking.” As of September 2022, the operation had cost Texans over $4 billion. That averages about $2.5 million per week.

And of course, we cannot forget the human costs. Human smuggling thrives in the Lone Star State’s Border Patrol sectors. Illegal aliens tragically die in Texas and other border states while making the trek into the United States. American citizens at the border see their property destroyed and neighborhoods overrun. And Border Patrol agents are assaulted and injured.

In just over one year of Operation Lone Star, the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Texas National Guard apprehended more than 233,000 aliens; conducted more than 13,600 criminal arrests (apart from the crime of crossing the border, including 11,000 felony charges); and seized more than 3,700 weapons, $30 million, and 298 million lethal doses of fentanyl.

Remember that these state numbers don’t include the currency, weapons, and drugs pouring across the border that federal law enforcement seizes or that evade detection altogether.

Abbott has not been shy about assigning blame for the border crisis and requesting help from the federal government, as enforcing our immigration laws and securing the homeland are primarily federal responsibilities.

Even after President Joe Biden finally visited the border in Texas last month after two years in office, the governor’s pleas continue to fall on deaf ears. After the president said he wanted to see “peace and security” at the border, the White House ordered the streets of El Paso cleared of the illegal aliens living there before Biden’s visit in an attempt to hide the reality of his border crisis.

As Texas demonstrates, when the federal government fails to do its job securing our nation, states are left to single-handedly prevent illegal immigration and protect their own borders as best as possible—often at an incredibly high cost.

Texas has already taken several steps to do this. It has outlawed sanctuary cities and alien smuggling, dozens of local Texas sheriffs’ offices partner with federal law enforcement in an effort to protect their communities from criminal aliens, and the state attorney general has led the charge in suing the Biden administration for its illegal and disastrous border and immigration policies.

However, no matter how much legislation is passed or how hard officials work to enforce the law and keep citizens safe, the administration fights the state every step of the way.

Rather than leaving states like Texas at the mercy of the Biden administration’s radical, open-border agenda, members of Congress must answer the call from the American people and keep their campaign promises to step up and restore border security as well as hold Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas accountable for the damage they have done to our country.

https://www.dailysignal.com/2023/03/02/the-toll-of-the-border-crisis-on-the-states-texas/?

***********************************



March 7, 2023

Conservative senator calls out Leftist Australian PM as migration to Australia is set to soar past 300,000 despite the nation face a housing crisis

Where will they all live?

Pauline Hanson has called out Anthony Albanese over the estimated 300,000 migrants set to arrive in Australia this year as the country battles a severe housing crisis.

The One Nation senator took to social media to lambast the prime minster on immigration as she shared an image of a series of newspaper stories that illustrated Queensland's crippling rental crisis on Monday.

'Anthony Albanese's broken immigration election promise means Australia faces an influx of 300,000+ foreign arrivals this year alone!' she wrote.

'Meanwhile, many Aussie families are struggling to find a house to rent or buy and those that do are paying a huge price!'

She claimed it was 'more lies, more broken promises, and more pain for Aussies'.

Senator Hanson told Daily Mail Australia: 'The Albanese government stated it would increase immigration from 160,000 to 195,000 per year (not including refugees), primarily to address skills and labour shortages in Australia.'  'However, more than 300,000 are coming in. That is more than a 50% increase.

'Most Australians do not favour high immigration levels and One Nation wants a national plebiscite to be held on the question so the major parties can be unequivocally shown this and put in place immigration policies which reflect what the electorate wants, rather than what big retailers want.'

Mr Albanese had in fact agreed before last year's election to increase permanent migration from 160,000 to 195,000 places and to speed up visa processing for foreign workers.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers conceded back in January that Treasury had 'underestimated' immigration numbers. He explained that the higher figure was likely due to severe labour shortages and the return of international students. 'We've got serious skills and labour shortages that are acting as a handbrake,' he said.

'It's a reasonable assumption the number may be higher than the 235,000 printed in the Budget.'

Senator Hanson suggested that the miscalculation was a significant oversight by Treasury. 'The Treasurer is right on board with the big retailers and other big companies, and is ignoring the electorate - most of us simply do not want a big Australia,' she said.

'The underestimate to which he refers shows that immigration is out of control under Labor and they cannot be trusted.'

To remedy the housing crisis, One Nation has called for a ban on foreign ownership of all residential property, both new and established, and give foreign owners 12 months to 'get out of the market'.

Both New Zealand and Canada have already implemented similar measures to ban or heavily restrict foreign ownership.

'This would significantly increase the supply of housing for Australians to buy,' Senator Hanson said.

'Many foreigners who buy Australian residential properties come from countries which do not allow Australians to buy property there.'

The party wants immigration to be reduced to 'sustainable levels' to lower the demand for housing in Australia.

A 2018 housing affordability study by the Grattan Institute estimated that up to 550 new dwellings were needed in Australia for every 1,000 new immigrants.

One Nation has also called for planning reform at both the state and territory level, reducing or eliminating stamp duty and red tape at the local government level to fix the housing crisis.

The party says the government needs to train up a skilled home-grown workforce to fill labour shortages rather than outsourcing work.

'There are more than 920,000 Australians currently receiving unemployment benefits, and while many may be unemployable for a variety of reasons that cannot possibly be the case for all of them and probably isn’t the case for most of them,' she added.

The migration figures come just over a year after Mr Albanese refused to back the Morrison government's push to take on 160,000 new migrants when he was opposition leader.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11824633/Pauline-Hanson-slams-Anthony-Albanese-migration-set-soar-past-300-000-amidst-housing-crisis.html

***********************************



March 6, 2023

Gov. DeSantis' immigration plan would invalidate Gov. Newsom's IDs for illegal immigrants

Gov. Ron DeSantis' planned legislative proposal to tackle illegal immigration in Florida could be most transformative state-led plan ever, a Florida state senator told Fox News.

The overhaul will increase penalties for human smuggling and falsifying documents and requires state employers to confirm their employees' legal status. It also includes proposals on health care spending, voting and out-of-state IDs.

"I believe that this is going to be the largest, most comprehensive, landmark state-led anti-illegal immigration bill ever passed in the United States," Florida state Sen. Blaise Ingoglia, who is working on the proposal with DeSantis, told Fox News. "It should be the blueprint for other states to pass so we can all push back as states on the federal government, the Biden administration, Secretary Mayorkas and their open border policies."

DeSantis, while announcing the immigration plan, said Florida "won’t turn a blind eye to the dangers of Biden’s border crisis" and that his administration would "do everything in our power to protect the people of Florida from what's going on at the border and the border crisis."

The proposal also aims to track how much the health care industry spends on illegal immigrants.

"We as a state of Florida really need to get our hands around the dollar amount, the magnitude of the amount of money that Floridians are paying for illegal immigrants that go through the emergency rooms," Ingoglia, a Republican, told Fox News. "If this bill should pass, hospitals, any hospital that receives state Medicaid dollars, will be required to ask the question upon intake whether they are here in the country legally or illegally,"

Health care for illegal immigrants in Florida during the last fiscal year cost over $310 million, according to state data.

Ingoglia also said DeSantis' plan would invalidate all out-of-state IDs for illegal immigrants. Law enforcement would proceed as though the individual had no ID at all.

Over 1.1 million driver's licenses have been given to illegal migrants in California since 2014, according to state data. Additionally, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law in September allowing illegal immigrants to get state IDs.

"So it's stuff like this plus more that this state of Florida is looking at doing to really force the federal government to finally fixing this problem," Ingoglia told Fox News

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/gov-desantis-immigration-plan-invalidate-gov-newsoms-ids-illegal-immigrants

***********************************



March 5, 2023

Walls on Another Border

A spike in the number of Haitian migrants making the 600-mile sea journey to the Florida Keys is being attributed to the increased difficulty in crossing into neighboring Dominican Republic. The Dominican Republic, faced with a massive influx of migrants from Haiti that was crippling the social system, built a wall, with soldiers guarding the barrier at intervals.

Chuck Holton, who has spent the last two decades reporting on wars and disasters in more than 100 countries and the author of a new Center report, writes of the Dominican Republic, “After consultations with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the country has stepped up its program of rounding up illegal Haitians and sending them back to their home country, and is expanding the wall project to deter illegal crossings.”

Haitians have long crossed to the Dominican Republic looking for work, particularly in tourism and agriculture, providing a near-limitless supply of cheap labor. But the illegal numbers swelled to over two million in the Dominican Republic, causing a change in immigration policies.

According to Holton, “Haitians are making the trek to the U.S. in larger numbers, either by sea or by flying to mainland South America, usually Suriname or Ecuador, then making their way by bus to the Darien Gap between Colombia and Panama and then on to the U.S. southern border to take advantage of Biden’s open-border policies. And now with the Biden administration’s new CBP One mobile phone app, which allows 30,000 Haitians per month to skip the dangerous and expensive journey and fly directly to the U.S, more Haitians will be incentivized to leave.”

The new app will allow more Haitians to leave the country, but the majority of the 60,000 Haitians who crossed the U.S. southern border in 2022 did not come directly from Haiti.  Most had left Haiti years ago and were making lives for themselves in Peru, Chile, Ecuador, or Brazil. Their decision to emigrate to the U.S. had nothing to do with fleeing persecution, violence, or even poverty, per se.

https://cis.org/Report/Walls-Another-Border

***********************************



3 March 2023

Canadians frustrated by migrant surge, illegal border crossings: 'No political will to fix this'

Canadians are becoming increasingly frustrated with the migrant surge at their country's border as some have called for the shut-down of Roxham Road, a major border crossing in Canada.

"Canada is soft,’" Hélène Gravel, who's house is close to Canada’s popular illegal border crossing, told the New York Times. "And the United States doesn’t care because this is nothing compared with what’s happening on their southern border."

Gravel also told the outlet that there was "no political will to fix this."

The Roxham Road crossing is used by migrants coming from the U.S., and once migrants are charged at the crossing point, they are immediately released, according to the Times.

Sean Walsh, president of the Swanton, Vermont sector of the National Border Patrol Council, called out Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in February for letting the migrant crisis worsen.

"They're not saying anything," Walsh told "America's Newsroom." "They're allowing it to happen. The visas in place, they are allowed to travel a lot easier. They fly into Montreal, Ontario, and you name it across Canada, and these cartels and smuggling organizations are making money hand over fist."

François Legault, the premier of Quebec, has called on Trudeau to shut down Roxdam Road. Legault and others have also pushed for Trudeau to renegotiate a treaty Canada has with the U.S. that they believe has fueled border crossings, the New York Times reported.

The treaty includes a loophole that allows migrants crossing illegally into Canada at an unofficial crossing, such as Roxdam Road, to claim asylum in Canada rather than the U.S., despite being in the U.S. first, according to the outlet.  

An Amnesty International official in Canada told the Times that the U.S. is becoming unsafe for asylum-seekers.

"The fact that Biden is getting tougher reinforces the argument that the United States is not a safe country for asylum-seekers and that it doesn’t meet its international legal obligations regarding human rights and the reception of asylum-seekers,’’ said France-Isabelle Langlois, the director general of Amnesty International for francophone Canada.

Some migrants have had second thoughts about Canada after fleeing New York City and reportedly wanted to return to the city. One of the migrants told the outlet that it was because of "lots of snow."

New York City Mayor Eric Adams confirmed that they were helping migrants make their way up to Canada.

"Those who are seeking to go somewhere else — not that we’re pushing or forcing — if they’re seeking to go somewhere else, we are helping in the re-ticketing process," he said during an interview with FOX5. "Some want to go to Canada, some want to go to warmer states, and we are there for them as they continue to move on with their pursuit of this dream."

https://www.foxnews.com/media/canadians-frustrated-migrant-surge-illegal-border-crossings-no-political-will-fix



March 2, 2023

NYC scrapes up $1.2M for migrant crisis as Biden turns deaf ear to $1B request

The City Council has scraped together $1.2 million in unused, pork-barrel funds for two dozen nonprofits providing migrant-related services — prompting critics to say it’s about time President Biden came through with some of the billions in expenses New York is racking up to cover a crisis he created.

The money is coming from the council’s $5 million “Language Access Initiative,” created last year to pay for translation assistance for migrants and their families, Council Speaker Adrienne Adams (D-Queens) said Wednesday.

“With four months left in the fiscal year and projections that this funding will be unspent, the council saw an opportunity to shift this allocation to support nonprofit providers that are on the ground right now, supporting asylum seekers,” Speaker Adams said at a City Hall news conference.

The taxpayer funds will be nearly matched by another $1 million from the Robin Hood Foundation, New York Community Trust, Bronx Community Foundation, New York Women’s Foundation, and Brooklyn Community Foundation.

The combined $2.2 million amounts to a tiny fraction of the estimated cost of the city’s migrant crisis, which Mayor Eric Adams has warned could reach $4.2 billion by the middle of next year.

The city’s share was initially earmarked for the Division of Youth and Family Services, leading Councilman Bob Holden (D-Queens) to complain that New Yorkers were getting shortchanged.

“We don’t have enough money for our kids and our youth funding because we’re always begging for more money for the migrants!” he fumed. “It’s no doubt that the feds should kick in for this money – not the taxpayers.”

Holden added: “I would deliver an invoice to the White House!”

Council Minority Leader Joe Borelli (R-Staten Island) also said, “It is the end of a budget year and we are looking for change between the couch cushions to pay for already-approved city services.”

“It’s going to be quite the conundrum when we have to factor a multibillion-dollar, migrant-related expense with no end or relief in sight,” he added. “Where is our money tree? Where is Scrooge McDuck and his pile of gold? Where is Joe Biden?”

More than 48,300 migrants have been processed by the city since the spring, with 30,200-plus housed in 95 emergency shelters as of Sunday, according to the latest figures from City Hall.

“No other city is paying to place individuals in luxury hotel rooms, why is New York City?” said US Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-Staten Island, Brooklyn). “When my parents came to this country, no one paid for their housing, food and healthcare.”

Malliotakis also said that the city’s “right to shelter law was intended for homeless New Yorkers not citizens of other countries.”

“The mayor and city council should tell Biden to secure the border and require people to follow the appropriate process,” she added.

Adams has applied for $1 billion in funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency but only $8 million has been authorized so far.

https://nypost.com/2023/03/01/nyc-finds-1-2m-for-migrant-crisis-as-biden-dithers/

***********************************



1 March, 2023

Future of Border Wall in Doubt After Agency Declares Milkweed an Endangered Species

The addition of milkweed to a federally protected list of endangered species is set to hinder the construction of a wall along the southern border.

On Monday, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service declared prostrate milkweed an endangered species. Under federal law, that means the land it grows on would be designated as “a critical habitat,” with environmental protections that make public projects considerably more cumbersome to undertake.

Environmentalists say the designation will protect the monarch butterfly, whose caterpillars feed exclusively on the plant. According to a 2015 study by the Department of the Interior, the monarch population decreased by a billion between 1990 and 2014. The agency attributed the decline in population to the eradication of natural habitats and to insecticides being sprayed on milkweed.

The move, though, has drawn the ire of Texas’s attorney general, Warren Paxton. Along with Governor Abbott, Mr. Paxton is a proponent of sealing the southern border to prevent migrants from crossing into Texas from Mexico.

President Trump famously staked his 2016 campaign on a promise to “build the wall and make Mexico pay for it.” The Trump administration constructed and fortified more than 450 miles of wall — about 50 miles of which was newly constructed.

President Biden put a moratorium on the wall’s construction his first day in office, and offered only lukewarm support for plugging existing gaps in it. Since then, Mr. Abbott has taken it upon himself to finish the work that Mr. Trump started.

The Lone Star State has so far completed about 2 miles worth of wall and has contracts for the construction of 35 more miles, according to the Texas Tribune. The state recently returned to building after a pause to negotiate with private landowners along the border.

The prostrate milkweed is found only within nine miles of the southern border — meaning much of the land on which a border wall would be built now finds itself as part of its critical habitat. Federal law prohibits any public projects that could “destroy or adversely modify” the species’ existence in the designated lot of land.

Texas Republicans have expressed concern that the designation would prevent the construction of the border wall, but the Fish and Wildlife Service has rejected the notion that it would hinder border protection.

In a letter to the agency, Mr. Paxton called the possibility of adding prostrate milkweed to the endangered species list an “absurd effort to paralyze Texas’s border control.” Mr. Paxton warned about the consequences for “putting a plant before the lives of Texans.”

The attorney general also questioned the soundness of the rule as an environmental protection measure, suggesting that unmitigated migration could prove worse for milkweed. More than 150,000 migrants were apprehended by Border Patrol agents at the southern border in January.

“The prospect of thousands of migrants and undocumented immigrants trampling the vegetation and plant life while journeying north through Zapata and Starr Counties each year is no doubt potentially harmful to the sensitive environment surrounding prostrate milkweed,” Mr. Paxton wrote then — to no avail.

The Fish and Wildlife Service, however, contends that the designation of land as critical habitat “will not preclude border wall construction or security operations.”

“We will continue to collaborate with DHS and CBP to ensure border security operations can still occur in areas designated as critical habitat for prostrate milkweed,” the agency said on Monday.

https://www.nysun.com/article/future-of-border-wall-in-doubt-after-agency-declares-milkweed-an-endangered-species

***********************************




Sidebars

The notes and pix appearing in the sidebar of the blog that is reproduced above are not reproduced here. The sidebar for this blog can however be found in my archive of sidebars


Most pictures that I use in the body of the blog should stay up throughout the year. But how long they stay up after that is uncertain. At the end of every year therefore I intend to put up a collection of all pictures used my blogs in that year. That should enable missing pictures to be replaced. The archive of last year's pictures on this blog is therefore now up. Note that the filename of the picture is clickable and clicking will bring the picture up. See here (2020). here (2021) and here (2022)



My Home Pages are here (Academic) or here (Personal); Index to blog backups; My Home page supplement; My Alternative Wikipedia; My Blogroll; Menu of my longer writings; Subject index to my short notes. My annual picture page is here; My Recipes;

Email me (John Ray) here.