![President Biden, about to depart for Arizona on Dec. 6, tells reporters he won't visit the border while there because "there are more important things going on." (Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)](https://cdn.cnsnews.com/styles/article_big/s3/2022-12/biden%20umbrella.jpg?itok=G8DJfdV7 "President Biden, about to depart for Arizona on Dec. 6, tells reporters he won't visit the border while there because "there are more important things going on." (Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)")
President Biden, about to depart for Arizona on Dec. 6, tells reporters he won't visit the border while there because "there are more important things going on." (Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)
(CNSNews.com) - The nation is bracing for record-breaking numbers of migrants to illegally cross the southwest border later this week, when Title 42, the public health order, is lifted as directed by a federal judge.
On Sunday, senior Biden adviser Keisha Lance Bottoms told CBS's "Face the Nation" that President Joe Biden continues "to lean in on this immigration issue."
Host Margaret Brennan asked Bottoms, "Well, why doesn't he go to the border? He was just in Arizona. Why wasn't it worth his time?"
"Well, you have to remember, Margaret, when the president travels, it's not like you or I jumping on an airplane and getting off and going to our destination. Everything comes to a halt.
"So, all of these things are in consideration for the president. Is that the best use of resources? All of the resources that will be diverted on the ground when the president makes a visit."
"Is that why he didn't go?" Brennan asked.
"Well, I can't speak to why he has or has not gone," Bottoms said:
"I'm just speaking to the fact that it's a bit more disruptive for the president of the United States to travel than you or I.
"But what the president has done is continued to lean in on this immigration issue. It's something that he ran on. And what we know, over the past two years, every single thing that the president has run on, he's put time and resources into addressing it.
"So, immigration, we know, is a problem that he did not create. Our issues with immigration are decades-long issues. And he will continue to lean in through the White House and through Congress to get comprehensive immigration reform done."
Biden told reporters on December 6, on his way to Arizona, that he wouldn't visit the border because "there are more important things going on."
Bottoms on Sunday said most of the migrants are not illegal border-crossers:
"And you have to remember, Margaret, these aren't people who are attempting to illegally cross the border. These are people who are presenting themselves, asking that they be processed in accordance with the laws of the United States.
"So, people have to remember, Title 42 is a public health emergency order. If Title 42 goes away, we will then go back to Title 8, which allows for a process, which is the reason why the administration has asked Congress to fund more than $3 billion to help us provide the resources that will be needed to process these migrants, to make sure that people are treated humanely, to make sure that the bordering communities have the resources that they need.
"And we need Congress to be a partner in this. And we need Congress to act because this is - this is a global issue that we are facing. And the White House alone can't do it. We need support from Congress."
Appearing on the same program, Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas) said the $3.4 billion requested by the Biden administration is "absolutely needed." Some of the money would be used to erect additional migrant processing tents, so border agents can return to their enforcement duties:
"But throwing money at a problem does not solve a problem," Gonzales said.
"You can have an unlimited amount of soft-sided facilities. The problem is enforcing the laws that are already on the books.
"I'd also argue the bulk of people that are coming over are just trying to live a better life. I get that. They're coming here for economic -- economic opportunities. But that doesn't qualify for asylum.
"Going back to immigration reform, I would love to have a conversation with the administration to work through something. Work visas make sense to me.
"Pathway to citizenship, amnesty, that is dead on arrival. What people have tried before have -- has no chance of working. You have got to start and build out from there."
A spokeswoman for President Joe Biden insisted last week that "we are focused and we are prepared" for the anticipated rush, and she tossed the problem to Congress:
"And we are asking Congress — for Congress to act," Karine Jean-Pierre said.
"We are not — we are not asking for political stunts. We’re — we continue to see political stunts from many Republicans out there. And that’s not how we’re going to fix this issue.
"They want to — they want to secure the border. We’ve been doing that work on our own. And we asked — we’re asking them to — hey, you know what? There’s an immigration reform plan that the President put out on the first day. They should work with us and do this in a bipartisan way.
Rep. Cuellar: Biden’s $3 Billion Funding Request Doesn’t Address the Issue We’re Facing at the Border
Migrants walk along the United States side of the Rio Grande river beneath the border wall to surrender to US Border Patrol agents in El Paso, Texas, as seen from Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua state, Mexico on December 18, 2022. (Photo by PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images)
(CNSNews.com) - Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) said Sunday that the $3 billion funding request that the Biden administration is asking Congress for to address the border crisis won’t actually “address the issue that we’re facing at the border.”
Instead, it will be used for processing, food, shelter, and transportation of migrants, he told CBS’s “Face the Nation.”
When asked about the morale of Border Patrol agents and whether they’re prepared to deal with upwards of 8,000 border crossings per day - possibly as much as 16,000 - the congressman said, “Well, first of all, morale is not good, because they feel that the administration doesn't have their backs, number one.
“Number two, are they prepared? No. Even the $3 billion that you mentioned a while ago, that money is going to be used for processing, is going to be used for food and shelter, and transportation of migrants. It doesn't address the issue that we're facing at the border. There's -- thousands of people are coming in, but you got to look at one thing,” Cuellar said.
“In the last few years, we had over 35,000 rescues, Border Patrol saving people that could have died. We also had 1,400 people that died, including children. Now, is this the most humane way that we ought to address asylum? No. I think what we need to do is have a pathway where they go through the bridges in an orderly way, and then, and then, Margaret, if they don't follow that pathway, I think we need to send them back and say, follow it away,” he said.
“I will finish with this analogy quickly. It's like if somebody invites me to go to their house for lunch, but I decide to go through the back door. I come through windows. I decide to bring a whole bunch of people. I decide what hours I come in. It doesn't work that way. We as a country need to set the asylum procedures in place,” Cuellar said.
Host Margaret Brennan said that “it’s extra complicated” with Venezuelans, Haitians, and Cubans coming to the U.S. who can’t be sent back to their countries of origin.
When asked how you solve that, the congressman said, “Yes, I mean, without a doubt, those three countries, Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua, those are countries that are a little bit more complicated, but the top 15 countries include Colombia, Mexico.
“It includes also Peru, Ecuador, and, in the top 15, you also have Russia, India, Georgia, the state, also, and Turkey also. So the top 15 -- people are understanding across the world that -- the fact that the Southern border is open,” Cuellar said.
BRENNAN: Congressman, in a letter to the president this week you warned that this week, when Title 42 lifts, they'll have a complete loss of operational control over the southern border, and that's going to have a profoundly negative impact on border communities. You know, the White House is saying that they've got a plan here. Why are you saying they don't? What is it that you are hearing?
CUELLAR: You know, they've been talking about this plan for the last two years. They've been playing - they've been playing -- blaming the Republicans, they've been blaming Congress. How long is this plan going to be - take -- when will it take an effect?
I've seen that plan, with all due respect. A lot of it deals with processing, moving migrants from the border over to the interior. We need to have a way that we can have a policy where if Title 42 goes away, looks like it's going to go away, unless the Supreme Court steps in.
If it goes away, they have to have a policy of an orderly pathway to asylum through our bridges, and if they don't follow that pathway, they need to go back. You know, they've got to have something in place.
I've looked -- with all due respect, I've looked at that plan and I - I don't think it's -- you know, they've been talking about it. It hasn't worked. Now, they're asking for the $3 billion or so. It's mainly for food and shelters, processing, transportation, but it doesn't really talk about security.
BRENNAN: So, you also pledge in this letter to work on bipartisan legislation. That's not going to get done in the next few days. What is it that you're envisioning in the new congress that is going to be possible with a Republican-controlled House?
CUELLAR: Yes, I mean, definitely -- the - the only thing we can do is add more money. I don't know if it will be the $3 billion, but it will be moneys there to meet the president's request, or as much as possible, number one.
Next year, I mean, it's going to be a show in so many ways and, you know, impeaching the secretary doesn't move us one inch closer to solving the issues, and I hope that we can have the president -- the president can do this, can implement a policy of an orderly process for asylum at the bridges and, if not, they go back. They've got to have a consequence. The president can do that because, look, keep in mind, in 2014
BRENNAN: Through executive order?
CUELLAR: Yes. Well -- well, look at it. I mean, if President Obama didn't have immigrational reform, didn't have all the things that people have been asking for, but he was able to manage the border in a much better place - a way. So, the president, President Biden can do this, but with all due respect, I think his advisers are doing a disservice to him.
BRENNAN: I'm sure the White House would say it's a hemispheric surge. It's worse than it's ever been. I want to get to something you've been raising consistently as you've been faulting President Biden for failing to visit the border. Policy experts would say, you know, a photo op doesn't do much.
To you, what does going to the border actually achieve? And do you think it's -- the reason he hasn't gone is because the White House is afraid it's going to backfire, that the border agents you're talking about will be disrespectful to him?
CUELLAR: Well, look, there's different ways of visiting the border. He doesn't have to go there for just a photo op, but, you know, a leader has to show images of - of being up there in the front. He - he can do that.
He can do it in so many ways, and I'm not asking for a photo op, but I think the message that will go to not only the men and women in green and blue but to the border communities. I'm more interested in the border communities who will say, hey, look, I'm the president of the United States. I'm here at the border. Border communities, I feel your pain
Virginia Governor: 'Beyond Belief' That Biden Is Ignoring 'Catastrophic Situation at Our Border'
A caravan of more than a thousand people from Central and South America cross the Rio Grande into the El Paso, Texas on December 11, 2022. (Photo by HERIKA MARTINEZ/AFP via Getty Images)
(CNSNews.com) - As congressional Democrats focus on destroying the political ambitions of a past president, many other Americans have bigger concerns about the national security of the United States.
Despite the pleas of some Republicans, including Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, President Biden has not addressed the crisis at the southwest border, which grows worse by the day, even before the expiration of Title 42, the public health order that allows the immediate expulsion of some migrants.
Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts on Monday temporarily blocked the lifting of Title 42, which was due to expire on Wednesday.
"We have a catastrophic situation at our border," Gov. Youngkin told Fox News on Monday, before the Supreme Court order was issued.
"And it's beyond belief that we're having to appeal to our Supreme Court to do something that the Biden administration should have already done, or we should get Congress to do it.
"But we have got to extend Title 42. But this is not a holistic solution. This catastrophic issue at the border has got to result in a decision to secure the border. The free flow of people and illegal drugs across the border is unprecedented.
“Title 42 goes away, they're expecting there are going to be five million people a year to come across the border. In 20 months, that's an entire state of Virginia coming across the border. It's unbelievable.
"We must secure the border. And we must stop the flow of illegal drugs. We had a record number of overdoses in Virginia, and 76 percent of them come from fentanyl.
“And we know where the fentanyl comes from. It's time to act. We have got to get Washington to stop sitting on their hands and secure our border."
Host Sandra Smith asked Youngkin what he's doing to prepare the commonwealth for an anticipated surge of migrants.
"Well, we're starting with the fentanyl epidemic," Youngkin said.
"And we have just an extraordinary number of young people who are dying from fentanyl. We are paying -- we're paying for Narcan to be available across the commonwealth. We're training people. We're rolling out a statewide communication program. We have partnered with our attorney general, Jason Miyares, in a program called One Pill Can Kill.
"And we have got to make sure everybody's aware of this pandemic that we're having with fentanyl. And, by the way, the federal government has got to get on it because they have ignored the fentanyl problem, in addition to allowing the free flow of people.
"This is a national issue. Every state is a border state. And that's why you will see governors, Republican governors, standing up together in order to try to pressure Washington to please secure our border."
Youngkin said border security should not be a partisan issue.
"There is a crisis at the border. It's inhumane, what's happening, millions of people flowing into the United States, illegal drugs. And it has to stop," he said.
"Extend Title 42. But, on top of that, go further and secure our border," he said.
Video that aired on Fox News Monday night showed hundreds of illegal border-crossers shivering in the streets of El Paso; shelters overwhelmed; and hundreds of migrants sleeping on the floor of the El Paso airport.
Press reports say thousands of migrants are now massing in Mexico, just across the border, ready to move into the U.S. when Title 42 goes away.
DEA Counts 379,000,000 Deadly Doses of Fentanyl Seized in 2022
The DEA says criminal Mexican drug cartels are mass-producing fake pills and falsely marketing them as legitimate prescription pills to deceive and kill the American public. (Photo: DEA website)
(CNSNews.com) - Here's a stunning year-ender: The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration on Tuesday announced the seizure of more than 50.6 million fentanyl-laced, fake prescription pills and more than 10,000 pounds of fentanyl powder this calendar year.
The DEA Laboratory estimates that those seizures represent more than 379,000,000 potentially deadly doses of fentanyl -- enough to kill everyone in this country, plus another 46,000,000 people.
As of December 19, 2022 the Census Bureau estimated the U.S. population to be 333,339,357.
"Fentanyl is the deadliest drug threat facing this country," the DEA said in a news release. "It is a highly addictive man-made opioid that is 50 times more potent than heroin. Just two milligrams of fentanyl, the small amount that fits on the tip of a pencil, is considered a potentially deadly dose."
DEA said its top operational priority is to "defeat" the two Mexican drug cartels -- Sinaloa and Jalisco (CJNG) -- that are primarily responsible for the fentanyl that is killing Americans today.
Anne Milgram, the agency's administrator, said most of the fentanyl trafficked by the Sinaloa and CJNG cartels is being mass-produced at secret factories in Mexico with chemicals sourced largely from China.
In 2021, the DEA issued a Public Safety Alert on the widespread drug trafficking of fentanyl in the form of fentanyl-laced, fake prescription pills, which are often deadly. DEA says the only safe pills are those prescribed by a doctor and dispensed by a licensed pharmacist.
In 2022, DEA says it seized more than double the amount of fentanyl-laced, fake prescription pills than it seized in 2021, so the problem is getting much worse.
According to the CDC, 107,375 people in the United States died of drug overdoses and drug poisonings in the 12-month period ending in January 2022. Sixty-seven percent of those deaths involved synthetic opioids like fentanyl.
Fentanyl isn't the only cross-border threat: DEA says in 2022, it also seized nearly 131,000 pounds of methamphetamine; more than 4,300 pounds of heroin; and over 444,000 pounds of cocaine.
In addition, human trafficking is surging as people from many poor countries flood across the southwest border, enriching the same cartels that are killing so many Americans with fentanyl.
W.Va. Attorney General Calls for Fentanyl to Be Listed as a Weapon of Mass Destruction
Tablets believed to be laced with fentanyl are displayed at the Drug Enforcement Administration Northeast Regional Laboratory on October 8, 2019 in New York. (Photo by DON EMMERT/AFP via Getty Images)
(CNSNews.com) - West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey said Thursday that fentanyl should be listed as a weapon of mass destruction because of its potency.
“I don't think that the media wants to acknowledge what’s going on because if you have to point fingers at China, the Mexican drug cartels, then all of a sudden, hey what is Secretary of State Blinken doing? By the way, not nearly enough. What is Mayorkas doing? He should be impeached or fired, and then what’s Merrick Garland doing?” he told Fox Business’ “Mornings with Maria Bartiromo.”
“They’re not increasing the number of fentanyl prosecutions. This has been an unmitigated disaster. The only agency I think that’s trying to some degree is the DEA, but they need a lot of help. That’s why I’ve called for fentanyl to be listed as a weapon of mass destruction, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg of what we need to do,” Morrisey said.
When asked what he expects when Title 42 ends next week, the attorney general said that he’s “concerned we are going to get another stream of people, flooding across the border, and with it of course comes more human trafficking, more deadly fentanyl, more invasion into the heartland, so we’ve been worried.”
“I mean this administration is a disaster in terms of how it’s handling the border, so it’s just going to be another seminal event, gonna flood more people, and that means more drugs, more death, and we have to keep educating Americans as to what is going on,” he said.
When asked how many times he has filed lawsuits against the Biden administration for various issues, like climate change, the border, et cetera, Morrisey said, “I know we're up in at least individually and with my colleagues I think in the high 20s, in terms of original actions. Then we’ve joined other briefs. We’ve sued dozens and dozens and dozens of times.
“Let me tell you, it’s not enough. If I had more lawyers, I would be suing them even more frequently because the reality is, this administration violates the rule of law every day, and it’s nowhere more evident than what’s going on at the border,” the attorney general said.
“Maria, just a few weeks ago I had families of the victims of fentanyl in my office, and they were talking about what was going on what happened to them personally, and the stream of fentanyl flooding from China through the border. This is very real. It is killing West Virginians, and it has to stop,” he said.
Morrisey said that “we pour so much money and time into addressing first responders' needs, because they are the ones on the front line, and the saying is if you touch it, you could die or one pill kills.”
“That is what we're seeing right now. Law enforcement needs to have so many different versions of Narcan available just to avoid having first responders and our brave policemen die. it is a serious problem, and I see this, and my heart goes out to all the families of the victims who have died from this,” the attorney general said.
“As you all know, you touch fentanyl or you have some of it laced, and it could even be through a vaping tool, which we’ve have heard of more and more and then you are going to die in a very short period of time, so I have been getting out to the schools in West Virginia,” Morrisey said.
“We’re trying to educate a lot of people, because a lot of these kids don't realize the potency of it, and we have to educate people. Meanwhile though, half the country doesn't even know about it because other than Fox and few other stations, they’re not covering it. So that’s why I am excited for the House to come in and start doing oversight so that everyone in America knows this crisis,” he said.
As Mayorkas Visits Beseiged El Paso, Republicans Call for His Impeachment: 'Willful' Mismanagement
Congressional Republicans, led by Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona, call for the impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Dec. 13, 2022. (Photo: Screen capture)
(CNSNews.com) - While Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas was in El Paso, Texas on Tuesday, meeting with Customs and Border Protection agents who are dealing with a de facto invasion, Republicans back in Washington were calling for the secretary's impeachment
"In August 2021, I was the first member of Congress to introduce articles of impeachment against Secretary Mayorkas," Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) told a news conference at the Capitol. "And now that we have the majority in the House of Representatives, I expect our party to pursue impeachment next Congress.
"Secretary Mayorkas has committed high crimes and misdemeanors. His conduct is not incompetent; it is not negligent; it is willful and intentional," Biggs said.
Mayorkas did not hold a news conference in El Paso, but his office released an "update" on how it is preparing for the end of Title 42, the COVID-related measure that expires a week from today.
Without Title 42 in place, Border Patrol agents will no longer be able to immediately expel illegal border-crossers for public health reasons.
In his update, Mayorkas blamed "the highest levels of migration since World War II" on "economic and political instability around the world."
But Republicans argue that the Biden administration has encouraged illegal immigration by rolling back Trump-era policies that actively discouraged it.
"The Title 42 public health order remains in place through December 20, 2022, and until then, DHS will continue to expel single adults and families encountered at the southwest border under that authority," Mayorkas said -- even as overwhelmed border agents in El Paso were mass-releasing migrants onto city streets.
“Once the Title 42 order is no longer in place, DHS will process individuals encountered at the border without proper travel documents using its longstanding Title 8 authorities, which provide for meaningful consequences, including barring individuals who are removed from re-entry for five years.
“These consequences include placing individuals in expedited removal, which allows DHS to quickly repatriate individuals who do not have a legal basis to stay in the United States," Mayorkas said in his statement.
“Nonetheless, we know that smugglers will spread misinformation to take advantage of vulnerable migrants. Let me be clear: Title 42 or not, those unable to establish a legal basis to remain in the United States will be removed."
Many migrants claim asylum, however -- an application process that allows them to remain in the United States until their cases are adjudicated by (overwhelmed) immigration courts -- if they even show up for the hearings, that is.
Mayorkas continues to insist that "we have maintained safe, orderly, and humane processes" at the border, despite video showing thousands of people daily flocking into El Paso, Eagle Pass, Yuma, and other border cities and states.
“Since the launch of the Southwest Border Coordination Center in February, DHS has led a whole-of-government plan to prepare for and manage increased encounters of noncitizens at our southwest border," Mayorkas said.
"Thanks to prudent planning and execution, and the talent and unwavering dedication of the DHS workforce and our partners, we have maintained safe, orderly, and humane processes that are managing more than twice as many people than they were built for, while ensuring national security and public safety.
“Despite our efforts, our outdated immigration system is under strain," Mayorkas said. "In the absence of congressional action to reform the immigration and asylum systems, a significant increase in migrant encounters will strain our system even further."
Mayorkas said a "real solution" can come only from immigration reform legislation.
‘Failure to maintain operational control’
In Washington on Tuesday, Rep. Biggs outlined Republican grounds for ending Mayorkas' tenure as Homeland Security Secretary:
"First Secretary Mayorkas has failed to maintain operational control of the border as required under the law...As a result, more than four million illegal aliens have been apprehended under Secretary Mayorkas leadership. This number does not include known or unknown got-aways," Biggs said.
"His failure to maintain operational control of the border is allowing deadly illegal drugs such as fentanyl to come into the country. Fentanyl is now the leading cause of death for Americans aged 18 to 45. His failure to maintain operational control of the border is creating a national security threat as well because potential terror threats are entering the country."
Biggs said Mayorkas may have lied to Congress when he testified that he was maintaining operational control of the border; he said Mayorkas is failing to detain illegal aliens as required by law, releasing more than a million of them instead; and he is "abusing the narrow authority that Congress gave to him to parole aliens into the United States."
"I expect the House Judiciary Committee to open an impeachment inquiry in the 118th Congress formally investigate Secretary Mayorkas and finally to proceed to impeach him," Biggs concluded.
"The investigation will further prove that what we've been saying all along about Secretary Mayorkas -- every day Secretary Mayorkas remains in office, America becomes less safe.""
GOP Rep. Lance Gooden: The Federal Government Funds Migrant Smuggling
(House Television/ASSOCIATED PRESS)
NEIL MUNRO
25 Feb 20220
5:58
If voters give the GOP a House majority in November, then GOP legislators will investigate and expose the migrant smuggling networks funded by President Joe Biden’s administration, said Rep. Lance Gooden (R-TX).
“Many of these migrants are being aided, in fact, by [U.S.] nonprofits who are using our tax dollars to do the aiding and helping them across, helping them get on airplanes without documentation, helping them to evade court hearing and helping them to burrow into society and evade any questions from law enforcement,” Gooden told Mark Krikorian, director of the Center for Immigration Studies.
“It is just stunning to me that we are giving money to anybody that’s not a U.S. citizen — much less someone who’s come into this country the wrong way,” added Gooden, who was first elected in 2018 to Texas’s 5th district, east of Dallas.
When the migrants are south of the U.S. border, they are being supported by the United Nations and Mexican-based aid groups, Gooden said:
The United Nations … is receiving support from the US government, among others. And [it is] helping sponsor these caravans [of migrants], they’re giving them debit cards, providing them with financial assistance throughout their journey to the U.S. border.
But the migrants who cross the U.S. border also get support from a U.S -based network of Non-Government Organizations [NGOs], he said:
When the [migrants] get to the border, they try to claim asylum status, which has to be determined through a proper hearing. But during the time that they are waiting for their trial day, they are aided by these NGOs.
You’ve heard me talk about Catholic Charities, Jewish Family Council, [and] the Lutherans [which] are involved. What they do is they go to the border and take these asylum seekers from [the Department of Homeland Security, DHS]. They’re paid by [DHS] to provide aid. So there’s an incentive to bring in more people because the more people that the Catholic Charities [or] the Jewish Family Council bring in, the more money they get from the U.S. government. It is a way that the administration has helped to aid — and in fact fund — the invasion of our nation.
If the GOP gains a majority in Congress for 2023, it will be able to investigate the NGOs’ activities and their funding sources, he predicted:
What they’re doing is encouraging human trafficking, they’re emboldening the cartels, and they are making the problem much worse. I believe it’s criminal … I think that is important to the American people to know that these groups — who in the past have done really great work — are now in cahoots with the government with the United Nations and indirectly with the cartels, and they’re bringing people across our border and shuttling them across the United States …
I believe that the [GOP] leadership of our U.S. House is keenly aware that the biggest issue to the voters — aside from inflation — is immigration … So I’m very confident that the leaders of our house will hold hearings [in 2023] … We’re already making preparations — not measuring the drapes! — to be prepared to govern when we take over in a year.
A GOP-run majority in the House will be able to control the agencies’ spending and impeach homeland security chief Alejandro Mayorkas or even President Joe Biden, Gooden said:
Come January, though, when we are in power, we will do whatever the oversight role of Congress requires to ensure that this administration is held accountable. If they’ve broken the law, whether it’s a secretary or the President himself, if impeachment is the answer, then impeachment will be the action. I have full confidence in the Republican majority … to execute the will of the American people and the mandate that I believe they’ll give us in November.
But getting President Biden and the Senate Democrats to curb migration may require painful political compromises, he predicted:
If Republicans control the House, and the President and Democrats still control the Senate and the White House, they’ve got to work with us to get whatever spending package they want. There would be a time when I believe Republicans will come together and say, “What are the one or two things that we just absolutely have to have? And if the Democrats will cave and give it to us, could we swallow whatever other bitter pills are in this spending bill?” That’s a conversation I’ll have to have with my constituents.
Migration moves money, and since at least 1990, the federal government has tried to extract people from poor countries so they can serve U.S. investors as cheap workers, government-aided consumers, and high-density renters in the U.S. economy.
That economic strategy has no stopping point, and it is harmful to ordinary Americans because it cuts their career opportunities and their wages while it also raises their housing costs.
Extraction migration also curbs Americans’ productivity, shrinks their political clout, and widens the regional wealth gaps between the Democrats’ cities and coastal states and the Republicans’ heartland districts. The economic strategy also kills many migrants, separates families, and damages the economies of the home countries.
An economy built on extraction migration also radicalizes Americans’ democratic, compromise-promoting civic culture and allows wealthy elites to ignore despairing Americans at the bottom of society.
Unsurprisingly, a wide variety of polls do show deep and broad opposition to labor migration and the inflow of temporary contract workers into jobs sought by young U.S. graduates. This opposition is growing, anti-establishment, multiracial, cross-sex, non-racist, class-based, bipartisan, rational, persistent, and recognizes the solidarity that Americans owe to one another.
Joe Biden’s BBB Will Fund Cartels’ Child-Smuggling
NEIL MUNRO
President Joe Biden’s $1.7 trillion Build Back Better (BBB) bill would allow cartels to get taxpayer funds for smuggling more foreign children and youths into U.S. schools, neighborhoods, and jobs, say GOP sources.
The plan, which is soon to be debated in the Senate, offers up to $3,600 per year to the guardians of all children — including imported children who have no Social Security number.
“There’s also a provision in there for a tax credit for illegal aliens who have children that are in the U.S.,” former border patrol chief Mark Morgan told Fox42kptm.com. He continued:
Think about that: You can illegally enter our borders as a family, and then you’re going to be rewarded by being paid to have your kid here illegally.
“This is going to act as an incentive for more illegal immigration negatively impacting our border security and impacting every aspect of our nation’s public health safety and national security,” he said.
The Democrats’ offer of money to the foreign parents of foreign children will likely fit within the Senate’s specials rules for debate over the so-called “reconciliation bill,” a Hill source told Breitbart News.
“I think the Social Security Number provision is not going to be voted out [by the Parliamentarian], so it is going to be a really salient point for another month,” he added.
U.S. Border Patrol agents take asylum seekers into custody as seen from a Texas Department of Public Safety helicopter near U.S.-Mexico Border on March 23, 2021 in McAllen, Texas. (John Moore/Getty)
The new giveaway will worsen the problems created by the 2008 update to Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000, he said, That act was unanimously passed by Congress, and it gave special protections to children.
But it is now used by the cartels to profitably deliver children to their illegal-alien parents in the United States and to deliver young laborers to labor traffickers around the United States.
Since 2008, the law has been used to move more than 350,000 “Unaccompanied Alien Children” into the United States, most of whom are young men looking for work. On November 21, Breitbart posted a Bloomberg report on the labor trafficking:
The Health and Human Services [HHS], Homeland Security [DHS], and Labor departments investigated the Enterprise situation but couldn’t track down most of the minors who were placed with sponsors there, according to the people familiar with the investigation. It’s not uncommon for federal officials to lose contact with unaccompanied children after their release from government custody.
The dead-end in the Enterprise case highlights apparent gaps in the federal system designed to care for children who cross the border without a parent.
The cartels will quickly see the economic opportunity created by the BBB, the source said. “Whatever opportunity you create for the cartels, they will fill,” he outlined,
They are going to look at that [payment] structure and say, “We can exploit that. There are people now who, despite wanting to come in legally can’t afford the thousands of dollars we might charge them. Now, even if they can’t afford it, the we’re happy to take them north because they once we get them in, then the government will help pay us and the coyotes for bringing them here. It’ll take the form of monthly checks.”
You’re gonna have the equivalent of having a government backed, illegal-alien enforcement mafia where the same people who bring the [migrants] here will now be coming around to pick up their monthly checks … The same people who are connecting the cartels to the [drug] gangs are going to use those same gangs as enforcers to collect cash and send it back to the cartels. They’re gonna put it in the same money laundering scheme that they’ve already got.
So you’re going to incentivize some of the more violent gangs that exist and the cartel members directly in some cases, to come by the new homes of these illegal aliens in the U.S. and harass them and take the taxpayers’ checks.
The illegal migrants will pay those checks to the cartels because the cartels have so much clout in their home countries, he said.
They will never be able to to walk away from in the same way that a little Bodega couldn’t walk away from the mob in New York City … They won’t be able to get out from the cartels. They’re gonna continue paying those taxpayer-funded checks in perpetuity … [because they need the cartels to] bring their friends and family up north.
Many Democrats understand that the welfare checks for foreign children will encourage more illegal immigration, he said:
They know what’s going on. But they know that they can’t say what their true goal is, which is actual open borders with open, uncontrolled migration both ways. And this is a step toward getting rid of borders.
“It’s a globalist mindset and it welcomes anything that moves toward open borders,” he concluded.
FUK ZUCKERUNT!
EXCLUSIVE: Human Smugglers Earn $1B from U.S.-Mexico Border in December 2021
Facebook Slaps Down Animal Rescue Charity While Human Trafficking, Drugs Run Rampant on Platform
22
Drew Angerer /Getty
LUCAS NOLAN
21 Feb 20220
3:05
Facebook has reportedly placed restrictions on the account of a UK dog rescue charity, severely hampering its ability to raise funds for the operation of the charity. Meanwhile, human trafficking and drug dealing run rampant on the platform around the world.
BBC News reports that Hope Rescue, a dog rescue charity based in Wales, claims that Facebook placed restrictions on the charity’s Facebook page causing them to lose around £15,000 ($20,412) in donations. The charity had recitations placed on its social media pages after it promoted a raffle that included alcohol as a prize. The raffles are legal by UK law and had been promoted on Facebook in the past without issue.
(SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)
Hope Rescue founder Vanessa Waddon told BBC Radio Wales that the charity had regularly included alcohol as a prize in its fundraising efforts without issue. Waddon claims that last month “out of the blue” the charity received a notice that it had violated Facebook’s community guidelines.
Waddon stated: “Our appeal didn’t work so we took down all the posts as requested. Then suddenly they took away our donation button and started restricting how many people could see our posts.” Waddon stated that it was “devastating to suddenly lose that,” as the charity brought in an estimated £15,000 ($20,412) in donations. She added that charities with “bricks and mortar property,” like the Hope Rescue shop in Pontyclun are allowed to use alcohol in their fundraisers according to Facebook’s rules.
But she said it’s been impossible to contact anyone at Facebook about the issues. “We’ve literally done everything,” she said. “We even had somebody in California go to the office for us but we just keep getting automated messages.” A Facebook spokesperson stated: “I can confirm we are investigating this.”
While Facebook is focusing on the possible charity raffle prize of alcohol being advertised on its platform, a member of the company’s management team was recently caught attempting to meet with a 13-year-old boy for sex. Facebook (now called Meta) recently confirmed to Breitbart News that Manager of Global Community Development Jeren A. Miles no longer works for the company after he was caught on camera allegedly attempting to meet with a 13-year-old for sex. A video of Miles published by the amateur pedophile hunters PCI Predator Catchers Indianapolis went viral across YouTube, Reddit, and other websites.
The company has also failed to crack down on reports of human trafficking and drug dealing across its platform, but users can rest assured that there is no chance someone will win a bottle of wine in a UK charity raffle.
Read more at BBC News here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan or email him at lnolan@breitbart.com
EXCLUSIVE: Human Smugglers Earn $1B from U.S.-Mexico Border in December 2021
File Photo: Paul Ratje/AFP via Getty Images
RANDY CLARK
13 Jan 20220
3:03
Internal U.S. Customs and Border protection documents reviewed by Breitbart Texas report that human smugglers received up to $1 billion in December 2021 alone. On average, migrants claimed to have paid smugglers more than $5,000 per person – with more than 170,000 apprehended in the month.
The number is likely much higher considering more than 400,000 migrants are believed to have eluded Border Patrol apprehension in 2021. The document shows migrants, on average, paid more than $8,000.00 each to human traffickers in the San Diego sector. Migrants interviewed in the Del Rio Sector admitted to paying slightly more than $4,000 per person.
SECTOR | TOTAL |
BIG BEND SECTOR | No data provided |
DEL RIO SECTOR | $4020.60 |
EL CENTRO SECTOR | $7,973.21 |
EL PASO SECTOR | $6,236.05 |
LAREDO SECTOR | $5,712.26 |
RIO GRANDE VALLEY SECTOR | $4,323.84 |
SAN DIEGO SECTOR | $8,017.61 |
TUCSON SECTOR | $6450.57 |
YUMA SECTOR | $4372.47 |
Southwest Border Total Average | $5,528.09 |
The source says not all migrants admit to paying the fees. The source says there are many reasons why the fees vary across the southwest border, depending on the barriers in place.
A 2010 report commissioned by the Department of Homeland Security notes that distances traveled to and into the United States can also affect prices.
The fees may also increase based on the nationality of a particular migrant. Traffickers fear the attention brought by smuggling migrants from significant interest countries or terrorist havens.
The increase in human trafficking along the southwest border by larger organizations is not a positive development for migrants when combined with a shortage of smuggler options. According to the DHS study, larger smuggling organizations have a greater tendency to violate agreements and abandon or extort their clientele.
Randy Clark is a 32-year veteran of the United States Border Patrol. Prior to his retirement, he served as the Division Chief for Law Enforcement Operations, directing operations for nine Border Patrol Stations within the Del Rio, Texas, Sector. Follow him on Twitter @RandyClarkBBTX.
Armed Human Smugglers Arrested in Texas After Crash on Railroad Track near Border
2,784
U.S. Border Patrol/Laredo Sector
RANDY CLARK
15 Jan 20220
3:35
A multi-agency effort led to the arrest of two United States citizens accused of smuggling five migrants in remote South Texas. After fleeing a U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint, the two smugglers led law enforcement officers on a vehicle pursuit that ended when the truck crashed onto railroad tracks in La Salle County, Texas. After searching the vehicle, officers discovered a loaded handgun.
The incident unfolded early Wednesday when Border Patrol agents attempted to inspect a Nissan pickup truck at a permanent immigration checkpoint on Interstate 35 north of Laredo. The suspected smugglers fled from the checkpoint. The pursuit ended when the vehicle became disabled while driving onto a railroad track.
The driver of the vehicle attempted to elude the deputy by driving recklessly on the interstate highway. Border Patrol agents and Texas Department of Public Safety Highway Patrol troopers joined the pursuit in hopes the driver would yield. Instead, the driver left the highway and attempted to cross nearby railroad tracks. The impact with the tracks disabled the vehicle, leaving it stranded on the tracks.
Police find a loaded pistol in an alleged human smuggling attempt in South Texas. (U.S. Border Patrol/Laredo Sector)
Authorities arrested five migrants in addition to the two suspected human smugglers. Law enforcement officers discovered a 9mm handgun concealed in the vehicle after a post-arrest search. The driver of the vehicle and a suspected accomplice were taken into custody by the La Salle County Sheriff’s office and face charges of human smuggling.
The migrants were turned over to the Border Patrol for administrative processing and removal.
La Salle County law enforcement authorities have become accustomed to an increase in vehicle pursuits in the area in recent months. Breitbart Texas visited with law enforcement authorities in the area who say they are not seeing an overwhelming increase in migrants being smuggled, but rather, a change in the tactics used by smugglers including leading officers on high-speed pursuits.
La Salle County Constable Rene Maldonado Jr. told Breitbart Texas the change can be attributed to cartels recruiting younger drivers via social media who perhaps otherwise would not be inclined to participate. Some, he says, are active drug users answering the call to feed their addictions.
The southern end of Interstate 35 stretches from Laredo, Texas, more than 1,500 miles to Duluth, Minnesota. La Salle County is only 30 minutes north of Laredo. The interstate can carry at least 200,000 vehicles per day in this area, according to the Texas Department of Transportation.
Randy Clark is a 32-year veteran of the United States Border Patrol. Prior to his retirement, he served as the Division Chief for Law Enforcement Operations, directing operations for nine Border Patrol Stations within the Del Rio, Texas, Sector. Follow him on Twitter @RandyClarkBBTX.
New border wall forces smugglers to dig expensive tunnels and launch drones
SAN DIEGO — Top U.S. border officials expect cartels to build more tunnels from Mexico to the United States and increasingly rely on drones for surveillance operations as the 400 miles of new border wall makes it harder to smuggle people and drugs into the country.
Transnational criminal organizations have long used tunnels and drones at the southwest border, but senior Border Patrol officials across the country are bracing for more activity as new 30-foot-tall barrier wall goes up in areas that have long been easy for criminals to cross.
“Don't be fooled into thinking that the cartels and smuggling organizations won't do whatever to try to adapt,” said Anthony Porvaznik, chief of the Border Patrol’s Yuma sector in western Arizona. “We fully expect to see more tunneling activity.”
“Smugglers are in the business to make money,” said Border Patrol’s national chief, Rodney Scott, during a one-on-one tour with the Washington Examiner of the Southern California region. “I definitely think they will, but again, we talk about the wall system all the time … because it's a 30-year, enduring investment that, without it, they wouldn't have to go to drones, they wouldn't have to go to tunnels, they wouldn't even have to go to the port of entry. They were just driving trucks across before, and the overhead expenses for them were significantly lower to just drive across.”
Three types of tunnels are seen on the southern border: rudimentary tunnels comparable to gopher holes that only go several feet deep; those that connect into existing infrastructure systems, like a drainage system; and sophisticated ones that can go as deep as 90 feet. Scott said federal investigators typically learn very early on about the elaborate kind of tunnels and intentionally do not bust them until they are almost complete.
“On average, it takes about a year for them to dig it. It takes engineers, and it takes a lot of money, so if we can literally keep them focused on pouring their money into a hole in the ground, we know about, we'll let it go until right at the end,” said Scott. “We just want to make sure no illegal substances or people get into the U.S.”
In August, federal agents announced the discovery of the “most sophisticated” tunnel ever found at the border. The tunnel was built 25 feet below the sandy grounds of Yuma, Ariz. It was far enough along that ventilation and rail systems had already been installed.
Anna Giaritelli / Washington Examiner
In August, federal agents announced the discovery of the “most sophisticated” tunnel ever found at the border. The tunnel was built 25 feet below the sandy grounds of Yuma, Arizona. It was far enough along that ventilation and rail systems had already been installed. Yuma border officials showed the tunnel to the Washington Examiner. Outside companies are remediating the tunnel, which includes filling it with concrete so that it cannot be used in the future.
Despite Yuma’s recent bust, the San Diego region’s soil composition makes it the most suitable for tunnel builders out of the nine regions by which the Border Patrol divides the southwest border.
“Here, it's soft, so they have to actually line it with wood and hold it up,” said Porvaznik, who is based in Arizona. “In San Diego, they can dig it out, and it's more clay-like material, so it'll stay.”
Yuma border officials showed a recently discovered cross-border tunnel to the Washington Examiner during a regional tour in late October. Outside companies are remediating the tunnel, which includes filling it with concrete so that it cannot be used in the future.
Anna Giaritelli / Washington Examiner
Border officials expected the wall to have an impact on tunneling and included in annual wall funding money for underground systems that can detect disturbances in the soil. In Southern California, Border Patrol has a team that tracks tunnel activity. Border Patrol San Diego Chief Aaron Heitke said intelligence specialists map out warehouses located near the border and go door to door to meet with business owners to get a feel for who may be a threat. The team takes an overt approach, out in public and by asking businesses if they see unusual activity to tip off the Department of Homeland Security. The task force can also track imports and exports, as well as taxes filed to the Internal Revenue Service, to see if a business is a front or conducting legitimate trade.
The tunnel found near Yuma, Ariz., had a rail system built inside that would have been used to move contraband from Mexico into the United States.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement
“We’re literally kind of mapping out like, ‘Sony has been here forever. It's a legitimate business. We've never had any problems. It's a lower threat,'” said Scott, who previously oversaw the San Diego region. “This warehouse — you’ve got seven businesses in different suites that have been here for years. We know them. They call, they don’t, whatever — you kind of gauge it. And this one turns over every 30 days, every 60 days. That's something we're going to watch.”
In El Paso, where tunnels are less prevalent because of the river and canal systems, agents constantly see drones flying over from Mexico.
“All day long — 24/7 in this area — there’s drones going up and down,” said Border Patrol's El Paso division chief for operations, Walter Slozar. “They’re not using them to smuggle things yet ... We can even tell like when one goes up, ‘Oh, when that one goes up, that’s when something happens over here.'”
Drones surveil agents on the ground and inform smugglers when to send migrants over the border and when agents may be wrapped up elsewhere.
The western Arizona and eastern California regions are also seeing a heavy use of drones but for the smuggling of drugs over the wall. Porvaznik said drones will make up to 30 trips back and forth each night, carrying approximately a kilogram of drugs northbound.
Porvaznik points to a framed photograph in his office that shows an “octocopter,” an eight-propeller unmanned aerial system that goes for $16,000. Border Patrol’s aerial surveillance trucks detected it flying through U.S. airspace near the border transporting 25 pounds of cocaine over the border.
“It’s dark, and they’re silent,” said Porvaznik. “We've had numerous instances of drones working in [the] San Luis area, bringing over load after load, and they just keep making trips all night. At times, they overload them, and they crash. And so, our agents have found them with dope strapped to them."
Yuma agents have been able to track where some drugs are dropped and then pursue drivers who transport it. Agents do not have a way to force a drone and are still in the process of detecting them.
