The Immigration Bill in Congress

For John, BLUF:  President Biden and his fellow Democrats, up on Capitol Hill, and, to a lesser extent, the Media, are scsmming us with regard to illegal immigration reform.  The solution is, as it has always been, in his hand, but he is trying to pull a fast one on the American Public.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Awkward silence hits CNN airwaves when Gov. Kristi Noem confronts host for defending Biden on border crisis

From The Blaze, by Writer Chris Enloe, 29 January 2024.

Here is the lede plus four:

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) beclowned CNN anchor Dana Bash on Sunday for defending President Joe Biden over the border crisis.

On CNN's "State of the Union," Bash asked Noem about ongoing negotiations to pass a controversial border bill that Republicans believe will do little to stymie the border crisis.  Biden, over the weekend, committed to shutting down the border only if Congress passes the bill.

The bill, however, is unlikely to pass the Senate because an increasing number of Republican lawmakers oppose the bill.  That opposition is giving Democrats a talking point to use against Republicans, and Bash deployed it in her interview with Noem.

"Why not take 'yes' for an answer?" Bash asked, referring to Biden's willingness to sign the bill.

In response, Noem correctly pointed out that Biden doesn't need the bill to fix the border crisis.  Congress, she explained, has already given the president authority to enforce immigration law.  Instead, she argued that Biden's policies need to change.

President Biden is trying to pass off the situation by saying once Congress passes a bill he can act.  That is false.  It is in need of "fact checking", if that is a real thing in the Main Stream Media.  President Biden, and his Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, brought us to this point by executive actions reversing the program being conducted by President Trump and his Administration.  If President Biden was able to vitiate all of President Trumps efforts by executive orders, why can President Biden not reverse course and reinstitute those previous rules?  What does he need from Congress?

Well, it turns out, per the rumors, that he needs Congress to allow him to keep the flow of illegal immigrants going.  The word on the street is that Congressional Democrats want to give President Biden a trigger level of illegal immigrants for controls to be implemented.  And what is that trigger level?  It is 5,000 illegal immigrants a day.  That is just shy of 2 million people a year (1,825,000) coming across our borders.  That is not fixing the problem.  Just ask the Man on the Clapham bus

What the Democrat plan does is somewhat stretch out the arrival of illegal immigrants.  Asuming that the Democrats and the Cartels don't become greedy, and bring only 4,500 illegal immigrants a day over the border,♠ when my youngest Great-Grandchild reaches thirty-five we wikl have drained 63,236,250 people out of Latin America.  That is a 10% reduction in their population.  It would be a 20% increase in our population today.  How is that fixing our immigration problem?

The United States needs immigration.  Legal immigration.  Our treatment of illegal immigrants is a slap in the face to legal immigrants, the ones who do it the right way,

Frankly, the President, Joseph R Biden, Jr, is being dishonest in his presentation of the situation with regard to illegal immigration.

Further, he is failing in his responsibiliity to lay out how we are going to absorb those millions of people, how we are going to house them, educate them, get them jobs and assimilate them.  How we are going to make them good US Citizens.  And, he is whistling past the graceyard when it comes to the question of terrorists coming across our border, with the intention to do us grevious harm.

Kudos to Governor Kristi Noem, and to Governor Greg Abott.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  That is not conting the "got aways".

Housing Illegal Immigrants

For John, BLUF:  Chicago has been receiving hundreds of illegql immigrnts and ran out of places to put them up, so are now looking at converting unused schools.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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OOPS! Chicago Democrats in Trouble With Black Voters Over Migrant Invasion of South Side

From PJ Media, by Reporter Megan Fox, 11 May 2023, 11:49 PM.

Here is the lede plus six:

Chicago got a lot more than it bargained for when the people voted for “sanctuary city” policies.  Taking them at their word—that they would welcome hordes of illegal aliens—the governor of border state Texas, Greg Abbott, has been sending busloads of people who cross into his state illegally right to the heart of Chicago.  It’s the best idea anyone has come up with yet. Let the sanctuary cities become the new border towns! Let the blowhards who say it’s inhumane to turn people away absorb them! Afterall, they’re the compassionate ones, right?  They’re the ones who continually point the finger at the border state governors and criticize their reluctance to take on the never-ending human waves.  So why, when they’ve now been given the chance to welcome them with open arms, is there trouble in sanctuary paradise?

The mayor of Chicago, Beetlejuice Lori Lightfoot, wrote a letter to Abbott last week begging him to stop sending the people she said she wanted.

Lightfoot said that Texas was planning on sending more migrants to Chicago starting Monday, which she argued against, noting that Chicago does not have the resources to house more migrants.  She said in the letter that since Chicago has responded to the arrival of migrants sent by Texas in August 2022, the city has cared for more than 8,000 people.

She wrote that Chicago has “no more shelters, spaces, or resources” to address another influx of migrants to the city.

Abbott continued sending busloads.

And now one community in Chicago has found out that one of their school buildings is going to become temporary housing for the masses of people flooding into Chicago with no background checks or paperwork.  They don’t like it one bit and the really funny part is they’re all Democrat voters.  Democrats have a total lock on the black vote but they found themselves in front of a near riotous crowd of their own voters when they delivered the bad news.

Alderman Michelle Harris of the 8th Ward said, “While this crisis may constitute an emergency for the city of Chicago it does not constitute an emergency for the South Shore community!”  She joined with her constituents in protesting the placement of 250 to 500 people in an abandoned school.  The board making the decisions were loudly shouted down.  Everyone involved in this is a Democrat, and it’s hilarious.

You can tell the author of the piece is not a Democrat by the way she tells the story.

As illegal immigration becomes a national issue, rather than an issue for border states, the attitude of voters may change, in quiet and subtle ways.  The Elites in the Northeast section of the nation are not welcoming to illegal immigrants.

It is unlikely the surge of illegal immigrants with the end of Title 42 COVID-19 Rules will reconcile US Voters to acceptance of mass illegal immigration.  If the Biden Administration does not clean up this immigration mess it will likely influence the 2024 Presidential Election.  The advantage will go to the Republicans.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Information Curation

For John, BLUF:  The Federal Government wants to control messaging out on the public airways, including Social Medial.  They may think they are doing good, but their approach is evil.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Whistleblower Docs:  DHS’s Disinfo Board Was Poised to Crack Down on Information Questioning Vaccines, Masks, and Validity of 2020 Election

From American Greatness, by Ms Debra Heine, 9 June 2022.

Here is the lede plus two:

The Department of Homeland Security’s paused “Disinformation Governance Board” (DGB) was set up to respond to matters the government unilaterally determined to be mis-, dis- or mal-information (MDM)—specifically information that counters official regime narratives on “the origins and effects of COVID-19 vaccines,” “the efficacy of masks,” the validity of the 2020 election,” and “falsehoods surrounding U.S. Government immigration policy,” records obtained by Senate Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) reveal.

A DHS whistleblower provided the senators with internal DHS documents revealing how the board planned to coordinate with social media platforms to enable the removal of user content it deemed to be “MDM.”

“The First Amendment of the Constitution was designed precisely so that the government could not censor opposing viewpoints – even if those viewpoints were false.  DHS should not in any way seek to enlist the private sector to curb or silence opposing viewpoints.  It is therefore imperative for DHS to provide additional clarity regarding its policies and procedures for identifying and addressing ‘MDM,’ as well as its efforts to ‘operationalize’ public-private partnerships and the steps it is taking to ensure that it does not infringe on the constitutional rights of American citizens,” Senators Hawley and Grassley wrote in a letter to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

It isn't that Government People are bad People.  My father, an Uncle, my two brothers and my three children have all worked for the Government at one time or are working for the Government now.  However, some folks believe they are doing "God's Work" and try to "help" too much.  For example, Ms Lois Lerner, from the IRS, thought she was doing a good thing, but it was, in the end, the wrong thing.  She didn't understand that the basis for our form of government is that a lot of folks can be wrong, but we pick our representatives and let them work it all out.  If the First Amendment means anything, it is that you have the right to express wrong ideas.  Sometimes we have elections to determine which ideas we will follow.  Ms Lerner either never learned that or forgot it, or learned the wrong lessons in Grade School about fair play.  However you see it, she doesn't understand America.  And that is sad.  And I am not so sure President Biden, Speaker Pelosi or Majority Leader Schumer do either.

The bottom line is that information Wants to be Free.  We should not be having Governments restricting it.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Impeachment Rumors Continue

For John, BLUF:  It is unfortunate that neither side can concede to the othere side the fact that that side is patriotic,if mistaken.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Clinically Deranged Adam Schiff Mounts His Dead Russia Horse Again

Here is the sub-headline:

Schiff to Russia: “I Can’t Quit You.”

From PJ Media, by Opinionator Stephen Kruiser, 10 September 2020.

Here is the lede plus one:

As has been pointed out by many of us recently, the Democrats really aren’t behaving as if their presidential candidate had a substantial lead in the polls.

Yes, the polls have been tightening, but the Dems have been in a sort of flop-sweat panic mode since the Republican National Convention ended.  There is, of course, the fact that every public appearance by der Bidengaffer since then has been hovering in the neighborhood of “unmitigated disaster.”

The Democrats do seem to be trying to get to their October surprises early this year.  That reeks of desperation.

Speaking of reeking, California’s little impeachment pitbull Adam Schiff is back.  Guess what, kids?  He’s got another whistleblower!

I have to say, I think thzt Stephen Kruiser was a bit over the top with his headline.  I don't think that Representative Adam Schiff is Clinically Deranged.  Rather, he is a Democrat, under the thumb of Speaker Nancy Pelosi.  And they are both from Coastal California, along with Representative Maxine Waters.

That said, the idea of another set of dishonest impeachment hearings fills me with dread.  More dishonesty doesn't help bring us together.  It makes the media look like fools.  This is a terrible ay to run the Government.

The whole thing is based on the idea that the Department of Homeland Security is suppressing the truth, from the Intelligence Community, about who is meddling in US Elections.  Hint:  Everyone.  And how long has this been going on?  Hint:  For longer than you have been alive.  If you aren't also worried about China and Iran and North Korea you aren't paying attention.

Yes, there is a Whistleblower involved.  Whistleblowers are not necessarily bad people.  In fact there is a role in our system of Government for Whistleblowers.

The biggest external interference in the Presidential Election of 2016 was the Steele Dossier.  It was a fabrication of lies, fouisted off on the American Public, by folks like the Brookings Institution and the Hillary Clinton Campaign.  Thanks to former British Intelligence Officer Christopher Steele.

At the article, linked above, you can find a link to the Fox News article.  For those of you who prefer CNN as a source, there is this link.

The CNN piece says, among other things, that "White supremacy is 'most lethal threat' to the US, DHS draft assessment says".  I am not convinced that the biggest threat facing us is domestic, "right wing" white supremacy.  The piece, by Ms Geneva Sands, wanders over to accusing President Trump of race baiting.  This seems to be a meme being pushed by CNN and the Media in general.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

A Mystery Unfolding

For John, BLUF:  I try to be careful of conspiracy theories, although I might joke about connections from time to time, but this catches my interest.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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They Tell No Tales

Here is the sub-headline:

From Da Tech Guy, by baldilocks (Ms Juliette Akinyi Ochieng), 29 February 2020.

Here is the lede plus one:

A mystery has taken hold of me.

Phil Haney was a founding member of the Department of Homeland Security – an agency that investigated him nine times and found nothing untoward.  And this very same agency scrubbed its own records that Haney had been using to investigate Islamist terror networks in the United States.

Vaguely, I remember his name from my early days of blogging. He’s back in the news again; unfortunately for being dead.

This didn't smell right to me and it doesn't to baldilocks.

As I recall, "da tech guy" live north of Worcester, but baldilocks lives out in California, where this crime happened.

Read the rest of the short post to see her thinking.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

ICE Goes Looking

For John, BLUF:  Sanctuary Cities are a growing phenomenon across the fruited plain, although mainly on the coasts.  Now the Federal Government is deploying more ICE Agents to metropolitan areas to round up suspected illegal immigrants.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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BOOM:  ICE Throws Down the Gauntlet, Arresting Two Illegal Aliens in a California Courthouse

From PJ Media, by Mr Rick Moran, 20 February 2020.

Here is the lede plus seven:

ICE agents arrested two illegal aliens in a courthouse in Northern California, defying a state law that says they needed a warrant from a judge to do so.

ICE flouted a new state law that requires the warrant before arresting an illegal on courthouse grounds.  After the predictable outcry from courthouse officials and others, ICE calmly gave their rationale.

Los Angeles Times:

ICE said in a statement that California’s law doesn’t supersede federal law and “will not govern the conduct of federal officers acting pursuant to duly enacted laws passed by Congress that provide the authority to make administrative arrests of removable aliens inside the United States.”

“Our officers will not have their hands tied by sanctuary rules when enforcing immigration laws to remove criminal aliens from our communities,” David Jennings, ICE’s field office director in San Francisco, said in the statement.

In other words, ICE is telling critics to go climb a tree.

ICE's actions follow the deployment of Customs and Border Patrol agents to sanctuary cities and states.  The state government of California bitterly criticized that move, but find themselves unable to do anything to prevent it.  The Department of Homeland Security, the agency under which ICE and CBP operate, can send its personnel anywhere they see fit to send them.

There is a definite tug of war between the Federal Government and some of the States and some of the cities.  It represents the lack of consensus across the country.♠  Per haps the November elections will help to resolve these differences.

To move forward, we are going to have to find a compromise with regard to our immigration policy.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  This raises the issue of providing more Federal political power to the more populous states, perhaps by giving them more US Senators.  This would change the balance of power and would reduce most of the States, as a group, to to a minority position.  Ten States are half the population (167,707,819, out of 331,875,705, per the 2010 Census).  The nation would be run by California, Texas, Florida, New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Ohio, Georgia, North Carolina and Michigan, when they were in agreement.  Picture that on the map.  A change in how we distribute Senators would probably require a new Constitutional Convention, with the danger that many states would drop out at the Convention.  This last Wednesday, The Washington Times had this article:  "Secession fever spikes in five states as conservatives seek to escape blue rule".

ICE and Local Governments

For John, BLUF:  A local government in California is being sued over its actions with regard to illegal immigrants.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Judicial Watch Seeking Permanent Injunction Against California County’s Sanctuary Policy

From The Epoch Times, by Mr Mark Tapscott, 28 August 2019.

Here is the lede plus two:

Non-profit government watchdog Judicial Watch announced Wednesday it has filed a lawsuit in California Superior Court seeking a permanent injunction to bar Santa Clara County officials from enforcing a sanctuary policy that protects illegal aliens accused of heinous crimes.

Filed on behalf of Santa Clara County taxpayer Howard Myers, the suit requests an injunction against Sheriff Laurie Smith and Rick Sung, acting chief of corrections.

The injunction would prevent Smith and Sung “from expending taxpayer funds and taxpayer-financed resources on a recently enacted policy that requires federal immigration officials to obtain a judicial warrant before an alien in Santa Clara County’s custody may be transferred to Afederal immigration officials’ custody for removal from the United States.

Live by the Lawsuit, die by the Lawsuit.  I wonder if Santa Clara will fold to save the money, sort of like Lowell.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

San Ysidro Port Closed Temporarily

For John, BLUF:  There are some 47 million people in Central America.  How many of them can the US absorb in the next two years?  And how many jobs in San Diego and Tijuana will be lost due to the complications of illegal immigration?  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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DHS SHUTS DOWN SAN YSIDRO PORT AFTER REPORTS OF ‘BORDER RUSH’ BY CARAVAN MIGRANTS

• DHS is Department of Homeland Security.
• The Wikipedia entry for San Isidro Port of Entry.

From The Daily Caller, by Reporter Will Racke, 19 November 2018.

Here is the lede plus two:

Homeland security officials shut down all northbound lanes at the San Ysidro port of entry early Monday morning, after receiving reports that caravan migrants were planning to rush the border and cross illegally, U.S. officials said.

Port operations were suspended for just over three hours while border authorities, supported by military personnel deployed to the area, carried out “hardening efforts” at the facility, according to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen.

“This AM, all of #SanYsidro Port of Entry’s northbound lanes were temporarily closed to initiate additional port hardening efforts after @CBP officials were notified that a large # of caravan migrants were planning to rush the border in an attempt to gain illegal access to the US,” Nielsen wrote on Twitter.

I will interpret this.  A large number of people, conducting perfectly legal activities (and some not) were prevented from conducting their business by the antics of illegal immigrants.  One of the busiest ports in the world shut down by people not willing to wait their turn in the queue.

The 'Caravan is viewed differently on the south side of the border.  And, the Mayor of Tijuana, Señor Juan Manuel Gastelum, has a red baseball cap that has, in white letters, "Make Tijuana Great Again."  I wonder where he got that idea?

Here is a quote from a different Daily Caller article, "ANGRY TIJUANA RESIDENTS PUSH BACK AGAINST MIGRANT CARAVAN: ‘THIS IS AN INVASION’"

“Tijuana is a city of immigrants, but we don’t want them in this way,” Tijuana Mayor Juan Manuel Gastelum said in an interview with Milenio Television on Thursday.  “It was different with the Haitians, they carried papers, they were in order.  It wasn’t a horde, pardon the expression.”

The mayor’s comments reflected anger among many Tijuana residents at the increasing number of caravan migrants camped in shelters and public spaces in the city.  At least 3,000 were there as of Sunday, and thousands more are expected to arrive over the coming weeks.

For those who think that the "Trump Mindset" is confined to the White House, or just amongst old white men, the situation in Tijuana might be an indicator that this is a larger phenomenon.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Abolish ICE?

For John, BLUF:  When I was a kid the expression was "put up or shut up".  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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How Dare Republicans Make Us Vote On The “Abolish ICE” Bill, Say Democrats Who Wrote The “Abolish ICE” Bill

From Hot Air, by ALLAHPUNDIT, 13 July 2018.

Here is the lede:

The exciting conclusion to last night’s post about Ryan and Steve Scalise forcing a floor vote on the dopey “abolish ICE” legislation being pushed by lefties.

I hope it is a roll call vote, so we can see who voted how.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Being Ugly in Public

For John, BLUF:  Everyone has a First Amendment right to free speech.  On the other hand, those taking the King's shilling [a classic reference] are expected, in my mind, at least, to not be out disrupting the King's work, so to speak.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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SOCIALIST ACTIVIST WHO HARASSED HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY WORKS FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

From The Daily Caller, by Reporter Joe Simonson, 20 June 2018.

Here is the lede plus five:

One of the activists who chased Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen out of a Mexican restaurant Tuesday night over the Trump administration’s immigration policies is an employee of the Department of Justice, The Daily Caller News Foundation has confirmed.

Members of the Washington, D.C., chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America crashed Nielsen’s meal with a demonstration full of chants and other outbursts.

One of those participants, _______ ______,♠ actually works for the Trump administration — as a paralegal in the DOJ.

“Kirstjen Nielsen, you’re a villain, locking up immigrant children,” activists can be heard saying in a video.

The right to free speech is the right to be stupid, or uncouth, as in this case.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  Not doxxing here.

TRIGGER WARNING:  In which I say illegal immigrants are NOT undocumented Citizens, or Citizens of any type in the US, except for Citizenship in their Country of Origin.

For John, BLUF:  A Path to Citizenship is one thing, a continuously broken Border Patrol is quite another.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Twisting Language: AP Refers to ‘Undocumented Citizens’

Conservative Reporter Rob Eno, formerly of Lowell, points us to this News Busters item by Reporter Scott Whitlock, 7 September 2017.

Talk about twisting the English language into a pretzel. The Associated Press on Tuesday hyped fear about the end of DACA as it referred to “undocumented citizens” in Chicago.

Here is the quote Mr Whitlock pulled from the Associated Press:

[Rahm] Emanuel spoke as Chicago Public Schools marked the first day of classes Tuesday. The mayor told students at Solorio Academy High School they “are welcome in the city of Chicago.” The Chicago Sun-Times reports that school officials say about a third of the school’s students are undocumented citizens. Emanuel said Chicago schools “will be a Trump-free zone.”

Frankly, the only undocumented Citizens I know of are little babies who haven't had their foot print taken and their Birth Certificate cranked out.  All others are in this country illegally.  You are either a Citizen, a legal Immigrant, a refugee, a legal Migratory Worker or a Tourist (like those Canadians who will be driving to Florida soon to check in their mobile homes.  All others are law breakers, trying to jump the queue and thus disadvantaging those seeking to come to this nation through legal processes.

And, as a side note, one third of the students in Chicago's Solorio Academy High School.  That suggests a breakdown somewhere in the Immigration System.  A third.

Hat tip to the Conservative Review.

Regards  —  Cliff

Law Prof and Blogger Ann Althouse on DHS 7 October 2016 Announcement

For John, BLUF:  Either way, Putin wins.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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"Ann, I finally found the Department of Homeland Security statement that has given so much wind to the press Russia Collusion business."

"I'm having a hard time understanding the words, and was hoping you could help to elucidate them, as you are so good at doing," asks Dante in last night's "Open-All-Night Restaurant." Here's the full text:

Yes, it is really fairly thin gruel.  But, it is what Special Counsel Robert Mueller is working with.

Go to the link and read the short discussion from Professor Althouse.

Hat tip to Ann Althouse.

Regards  —  Cliff

Who Was Hacking Who?

For John, BLUF:  I think you are right that they are reading everyone's mail.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

A friend of mine, commenting on the news toward the back of the A Section, said:

So, it now seems that, for much of the 2016 Election season, it was DHS that was trying to hack into STATE level voting systems. Especially those that opposed the Obama Admnistratin's attempt to exert federal control over state voting regulations and mechanisms.

That would be the US Department of Homeland Security.  I am sure they were just trying to help.

Isn't that reassuring?

And where is the outrage?

Regards  —  Cliff

Diversity in Government

For John, BLUF:  Diverse is not necessarily better>  This lady also needs to bring something to the table.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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This Homeland Security Adviser Said '9/11 Changed the World for Good'

From Conservative Review and Reporter Phil Shiver we have this lede:

Laila Alawa, a 25-year-old Syrian immigrant is a sitting member on the Homeland Security Advisory Council’s (HSAC) Subcommittee on Countering Violent Extremism. Shockingly Alawa has stated that the 9/11 attacks “changed the world for good.” Alawa has also exhaustively blasted America, free speech, and white male “privilege” on social media, as first pointed out by this Daily Caller report.

I am sure if Ms Alawa thought about it she would say "Caucasian" vice "White", and I notice she uses male, to modify the term, so she excuses herself, she being another Caucasian (White).

I roger the "caucasian male privilege, in that I think that is what allows me to strive to be nice to all around me.

Frankly, I don't object to Ms Alawa being on the Homeland Security Advisory Council Subcommittee on Countering Violent Extremism.  Such groups need a variety of points of view and it needs good leaders to make sure lateral thinking is not suppressed.

Hat tip to Rob Eno.

Regards  —  Cliff

Tracking Illegal Immigrants

For John, BLUF:  Bamboozled.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

Writing in The Washington Examiner yesterday, Reporter Paul Bedard gave us "Border agent:  'We might as well abolish our immigration laws altogether'".  This link came from an item at Pajama Media, by Stephen Green, "The Border Vanishes".

Going back to the article in The Washington Examiner, here is the lede plus two:

In a shocking reversal of policy, U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents are being told to release illegal immigrants and no longer order them to appear at deportation hearings, essentially a license to stay in the United States, a key agent testified Thursday.

What's more, the stand down order includes a requirement that the whereabouts of illegals released are not to be tracked.

"We might as well abolish our immigration laws altogether," suggested agent Brandon Judd, president of the National Border Patrol Council.

Meanwhile, in the US Congress, Michigan Democrat Representative John Conyers is quoted:  "Rep. Conyers:  Illegal Aliens ‘Are Not Engaging in an Illegal Act’".♠  The Source is MRCTV and the Reporter is Ms Brittany M. Hughes, from yesterday. Here are the first three paragraphs:

In a new and interesting twist on the ever-escalating immigration crisis, Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) alleged during a House Judiciary Committee meeting Thursday that many illegal aliens crossing the U.S. border unlawfully “are not engaging in an illegal act” at all, but are actually following federal law.

Huh?

Yep. A supporter of President Obama’s unilateral (and highly disputable) declaration that Central American migrants fleeing long-standing high crime rates in their home countries qualify as “refugees” under federal law, Conyers argued during a hearing on the ongoing border crisis that family units who cross into the United States from Mexico without authorization are actually acting in accordance with U.S. immigration law.

I think there is a certain lack of trust out there across the Fruited Plain regarding immigration, legal and illegal.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  Sort of reminds you of a former Commonwealth Attorney General, who told us "It's not illegal to be illegal in Massachusetts".  By the way, it is Martha, not Marsha.

We Don't Check Social Media?

For John, BLUF:  Everyone else is looking.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

From four Reporters for Time Magazine we have:

"Secret US Policy Blocks Agents From Looking at Social Media of Visa Applicants, Former Official Says".

This is a 14 December 2015 report.

So, while the IRS wants your SSAN if you contribute to your church, the DHS doesn't want agents checking on the public tweets and Facebook postings from your fiancée from Lower Slabovia, including the ones where your fiancée advocates the violent overthrow of the US  Government.  I wonder if this would extend to making threats against a US President, or does the Secret Service operate under different rules?

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

TSA to the Rescue

For John, BLUF:  I think we need to keep TSA at bay for a while longer.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

I celebrate the action by three Americans, and a Brit "Cousin", to tackle and hogtie a terrorist on a high-speed rail train traveling in Europe.  What we should know we need to do in this new age of terrorism.  It isn't like the airplane hijackings of old, when it was a free trip to Cuba and then a safe return home.  Now it is mass murder.

The good fallout from the incident is the idea that we can resist, fight back, and win.  Not always, but if you are going to die you might as well fight back and try to prevent it.

The bad news is that people are thinking that TSA should step in and make us safe on trains.  Here is an article from The International New York Times.  The headline is "Train Attack in Europe Puts Focus on Vulnerability of U.S. Rail".

I like the Acela.  Let us be very clear about this.  The Acela is NOT high speed rail.&nbssp; All that said, I can leave my home, drive to the local "128 Station", park, walk to the elevator, ride down to ticket area, pick up my ticket, walk out to the platform five minutes before the train is due, and call my wife on my cell phone, talking to her as I board and while the train is pulling away from the station for the ride to New York, Philly or DC.  Once in a while I see a policeman and his dog.

The article catches this:

Amtrak, particularly on its high-speed train, the Acela, has cut into the airlines’ share of passengers in the busy Northeast corridor because of frustrations with airport screenings.  Between New York and Washington, Amtrak said, 75 percent of travelers go by train, a share that has grown steadily since the Acela began service in 2000 and airport security tightened after 2001.

The intervention of TSA to "make us safer" will ruin this situation.  I will again consider driving.

How much safety do we want and at what price?

Regards  —  Cliff

Releasing Illegal Immigrants

For John, BLUF:  We need to get a handle on Immigration, but those folks in DC don't even know there is a clue bag, let alone where it is.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

From The LA Times we have reporter Cindy Carcamo talking about a Federal Judge ordering the release of illegal immigrants (The photo cutline uses the term "entered the country illegally".  Here is the headline (and Link):

"Don't make us free detained immigrants, officials urge judge"

With Federal Judges like Judge Dolly Gee we don't have to worry about Sanctuary Cities or Sanctuary States.  That said, DHS needs to run decent facilities.  Just because you are an economic migrant trying to escape squalor does not mean you should live that way while detained here awaiting deportation.

Here is the beginning of the story:

Immigration officials urged a judge to reconsider her ruling to release hundreds of women and children from immigration detention facilities, warning that it would result in an uptick in border crossings, Department of Homeland Security officials said in a written response to the court late Thursday.

The ruling “would greatly impact DHS’s operational capacity and its ability to secure the borders,” they stated, adding that border officials have already seen increased border crossings of unaccompanied children and families this summer, especially in the Rio Grande Valley.

Obama administration officials also signaled that the ruling could force immigration officials to “separate parents and their children by detaining the parents and releasing the children” from immigration detention.

The filing is a response to a July 25 ruling by U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee, who found the family detention facilities “deplorable,” stating that federal authorities were in serious violation of key provisions of an 18-year-old court settlement that put restrictions on the detention of migrant children.

The ruling has left questions about what the U.S. will do with the large number of children and parents who crossed the border from Latin America during a Central American exodus last summer.

Yes, what will happen to those Mothers and Children, and perhaps even the associated Fathers?  Calling Dr Moynihan!

Of course the Administration does appear to be at cross purposes with itself in this situation.

And we do have some members of our General Court talking about making our Commonwealth a Sanctuary State.  This would be a bad idea at several levels.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Illegals as Released Criminals

For John, BLUF:  No one seems to have come up with a solution to illegal immigration.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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From The Washington Times we have "DHS released another 30,000 criminal aliens onto streets".  For 2014.  DHS being the Department of Homeland Security.♠  The number seems huge.  However, I then checked on overall incarceration rates for the US, where the latest is from 2010.  We had 2,266,800 (two and a quarter million) in federal, state and local lockups, so this release was 1.32% of the total.

Here is the lede:

Federal immigration officers released another 30,000 immigrants with criminal records last year, following the 36,000 it released in 2013, the government announced Wednesday — though it promised to take steps to cut down on the problem.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the agency that handles detention and removal of illegal immigrants, said it will no longer allow overcrowding to be the main reason a dangerous illegal immigrant is released, and will require a top supervisor to approve the cases of any serious criminals that officers want to release.

Here is the breakdown of those released in 2013, by crime.

ICE didn’t release a breakdown of criminal offenses of the new 30,000 on Wednesday, but among the 36,000 released in 2013 were 193 homicide convictions, 426 sexual assault convictions, 303 kidnapping convictions and 16,070 convictions for driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

One would assume that these illegal immigrants serve their sentence and then are released.  But, not everyone can be deported back to their home nation.  Some nations are not willing to take back criminals.  So, they go out into our nation.

This is one more indication that we do not have this illegal immigration thing under control.  I wonder if there is a CBO or GAO report on the overall cost of our illegal immigration programs, and the projected costs of alternatives being offered?

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  Yes, I am one of those who thinks that the Department of Homeland Security was a mistake.  The theoretical increase in coordination us offset by the bureaucratic drag.  My recollection is that President Bush was opposed to this centralizing, but Congress pushed it on him.  The 107th Congress gave us the Homeland Security Act.

Democrat Dick Durbin Suggests Filibuster

For John, BLUF:  Filibuster?  Democrats would do such a thing?  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Remember how evil the Filibuster is (or at least was last year, when the evil Senate Republicans were holding up those things that Senator Harry Reid wasn't already holding up).  Here is Law Professor Glenn Harlan Reynolds (The Instapundit) on a possible Senate Democrat Filibuster.

SO THIS MAKES THEM HOSTAGE-TAKERS AND TERRORISTS, RIGHT?  Dick Durbin:  Senate Democrats will block House DHS bill.  If the Dems block it, McConnell can always go nuclear on them.  Because the filibuster is evil, and so are other techniques that thwart the Senate majority.  We learned that last year . . .

What goes around comes around.

DHS is the Department of Homeland Security, which still doesn't have a full Fiscal Year (FY) 2015 Budget.

Regarding DHS, there is more to the issue than just the question of immigration management.  There is the question of President Obama's Administrative Memoranda regarding illegal immigrants.  There is TSA (Transportation Security Agency) and its cost vs its effectiveness, and the question of its intrusions on Americans and their freedoms.  There is the effectiveness of the US Secret Service, which was ripped from Treasury in 2003 as DHS was being created.

Maybe DHS should just go away, with its parts redistributed.  On the other hand, as Alexander King used to point out, painting the curbs yellow was effective because it kept the elephants out of the city streets.

Hat tip to the Instapundit.

Regards  —  Cliff