"Along with Obama, Pelosi and Schumer are responsible for incalculable damage done to this country over the eight years of that administration." PATRICIA McCARTHY
Report: Chuck Schumer Becomes Face of JCPA Media Cartel Bill
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has held talks with Microsoft about the Journalism Competition and Preservation act (JCPA), a bill that would allow media companies to form a cartel, exempting them from antitrust law for the sole purpose of colluding with Big Tech companies for advantages over their competitors.
Excluding any media outlet that does not have a “dedicated professional editorial staff,” the bill would allow the newly-formed national media cartel to pressure Big Tech companies to give more ad revenue to the likes of BuzzFeed and the New York Times, as well as favor them in search results and news feed algorithms.
U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
The bill has been slammed from all points of the political spectrum, as well as by independent antitrust and communications law experts who call it a gift to some of the wealthiest and most powerful media companies in the world.
On the conservative side, Media Research Center VP and longtime journalist Dan Gainor told Senators earlier this year that the JCPA is a bailout for the same large media companies that are destroying local and independent media. Republican FCC commissioner Nathan Simington and President Trump’s top tech expert Adam Candeub have also slammed the bill.
On the left, the progressive nonprofit Public Knowledge, founded by far-left Biden FCC nominee Gigi Sohn, is also opposed to the bill. In a message to its activists, Public Knowledge echoed the Media Research Center’s argument that the JCPA favors the largest media companies — a rare moment of partisan agreement.
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Glenn Greenwald testified against the bill in 2021, warning of collusion between America’s largest media companies.
In a later hearing, former federal antitrust enforcer and Harvard law fellow Dr. Daniel Francis said he “cannot think of anything the country needs less, now or ever” than the national media cartel the JCPA would create.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), the leading liberal nonprofit on internet policy in the U.S., concurred, saying the bill favors “media near-monopolies.”
Despite this widespread opposition — from conservatives, from progressives, from liberals, and from independent experts — the power of the media lobby remains strong, and the JCPA refuses to die.
Despite the media regularly branding their voters racists, insurrectionists, extremists, conspiracy theorists, and all manner of similar smears, some Republican Senators have signed onto the bill, even though it represents a bailout for the likes of the Washington Post and the New York Times.
In the Senate, these Republicans are: Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA), Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), and Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA).
In the House, the bill was championed by Rep. Ken Buck (R-CO), leading to scathing comments from staffers in the Freedom Caucus. However, the House GOP leadership opposed the bill, with GOP leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) denouncing it as the “antithesis of conservatism,” and Judiciary Committee ranking member Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) slamming Senate Democrats for reviving the bill.
Opposition from Republican Senators is also growing. Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) has said the bill would allow media companies to pressure tech companies to censor their competitors, an opinion echoed by Sens. Tom Cotton (R-AR), and Marco Rubio (R-FL).
Allum Bokhari is the senior technology correspondent at Breitbart News. He is the author of #DELETED: Big Tech’s Battle to Erase the Trump Movement and Steal The Election.
THERE IS NO GREATER THREAT TO AMERICA THAN THE DEMOCRAT PARTY AND THEIR TECH BILLIONAIRES FOR OPEN BORDERS!
How Facebook Crushes Conservative News
A former Facebook engineer details how the company suppressed a Free Beacon report on the Biden administration's plan to fund the distribution of crack pipes to drug addicts
It took just hours after a Washington Free Beacon report on a Biden administration plan to distribute crack pipes to drug addicts at taxpayer expense for the Facebook fact-checkers to mobilize.
In a "fact check" titled "Biden Administration Is NOT Funding ‘Crack Pipes, Heroin' For Drug Use," Lead Stories—a prominent member of Facebook's third-party fact-checking program—concluded the Free Beacon report was "not true." Lead Stories based its determination on Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra's declaration, made days after the report elicited considerable blowback, that as Lead Stories phrased it, "none of the federal funds for harm reduction programs for drug addicts can be used to provide crack pipes."
"While a description of the HHS grants stated that the grantees would be required to buy materials like safe smoking kits and supplies to ‘enhance harm reduction efforts,' such kits and supplies are just a few of the many materials that grantees can utilize," Lead Stories added. The fact-checking system at Facebook, which I saw first hand during my time as a software engineer on Facebook's "Misinformation" fact-checking team between 2019 and 2021, hands monumental power to supposedly nonpartisan fact-checking organizations to quash legitimate news.
According to the original Free Beacon report, President Joe Biden's Department of Health and Human Services planned to implement a $30 million grant program that included the distribution of "safe smoking kits" to drug addicts. A spokesman for the administration told the Free Beacon that these "safe smoking kits" would—like many other similar existing kits across the nation—include pipes for the use of "any illicit substance." Another Facebook fact-checker, AFP Fact Check, also concluded the "U.S. grant program is not funding crack pipes for addicts."
As a result of this wave of fact-checking activity, Facebook posts linking to the Free Beacon report were tagged as "Partly False," thereby "significantly" reducing the "content's distribution so that fewer people see it," according to Facebook's own fact-checking policy.
The Free Beacon tried to fight the decision, but complaints fell on deaf ears. Lead Stories editor in chief Alan Duke insisted he had no responsibility to contact the Free Beacon before making a determination, which relied exclusively on the word of Biden administration officials. That's right: Lead Stories diminished the story's distribution on Facebook based on the word of Biden administration officials whose policies were suddenly under scrutiny.
"Your fact check on Lead Stories led to our highly trafficked piece being removed from Facebook. Is there a reason you didn't bother reaching out to our reporter or anybody at the Free Beacon?" the Free Beacon‘s executive editor, Brent Scher, asked Duke.
"Your article may be ‘highly trafficked' but it is also highly false," Duke, a former CNN reporter, responded. "Please let us know when you have updated it with the correct information, as shared in our article."
Duke, whose Twitter profile describes him as a "Facebook fact-checker," added that his duties required him only to contact government spokesmen—not the Free Beacon.
In this case, by "correct information," Lead Stories meant retroactive statements from government officials, including Sarah Lovenheim, an assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Health and Human Services, who called the Free Beacon report "blatant misinformation," as well as the claims of another HHS spokesman who called the piece "misleading and misinformed."
***
The crack pipe brouhaha raises a central question: Why is Lead Stories qualified to make these determinations in the first place, particularly when it and other fact-checking organizations routinely ignore the undeniable fact that politicians lie—especially when they've been caught? Moreover, why did Lead Stories ignore the fact that both its fact check and the original Free Beacon report effectively relied on the same source, especially when we consider that the subsequent political fallout could impact the Biden administration's public position?
Silicon Valley uses fact-checking organizations to shield itself from responsibility and wash its hands of political pressures to focus on financial objectives. Meanwhile, organizations like Lead Stories can pursue their financial and ideological hobby horses. Indeed, Lead Stories says the "bulk of our revenue originated from our work done as part of Facebook's Third-Party Fact Checking Partnership" in 2021, through its self-described focus on "trending stories," adding that "Facebook pays us to perform this service for them but they have no say or influence over what we fact-check or what our conclusions are, nor do they want to."
Fact-checking organizations enjoy independence regarding "what [they] fact-check or what [their] conclusions are," but that independence is dangerous when we consider their partisanship and the enormous power Silicon Valley has handed them.
The protective cycle of evasion makes recourse impossible. When the fact-checker doesn't care, and the Big Tech platform doesn't want to know, there is nowhere else to turn. The fact-checkers know this, allowing them to profit from the fact-checking system while using their relationships with Big Tech to exert control over the political narrative. But it is also worth noting how futile their efforts are: The Free Beacon report on crack pipes spread everywhere despite the best efforts of the Facebook hall monitors.
That said, as long as Facebook is able to evade responsibility, there is no reason to believe that a handful of left-wing journalists drunk on a little power will exercise it responsibly—or willingly surrender it.
Ian Haworth is a former Facebook engineer turned conservative commentator. Follow him on Twitter, and subscribe to his Substack.
Scarborough: Zuckerberg, Musk ‘Robber Barons’; Tax Cuts ‘Grotesque’
0 seconds of 1 minute, 59 secondsVolume 90%
16 Dec 20210
MSNBC “Morning Joe” host Joe Scarborough blasted Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Tesla founder and space entrepreneur Elon Musk on Thursday.
Scarborough described the two tech giants as “robber barons.” He also lamented the tax cuts from the 1980s and 1990s, which he supported, as well as the GOP’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, arguing they “created the greatest income redistribution in the history of the planet.”
“I don’t know that anybody since John Rockefeller has had as unfeathered power as Mark Zuckerberg has right now where no one stands up to him inside his company, no one stands up to him on the board, no one stands up to him in Congress, no one stands up to him at the White House, no one really stands up to him in the media. He is a robber baron. Elon Musk is a robber baron. These people are robber barons,” Scarborough proclaimed.
“And we have seen the greatest transfer of wealth, which Republicans love to say, ‘Oh, we don’t like to redistribute income.’ Oh, really? Well, the tax policies that I have supported through the ’80s and ’90s and continued to be supported by Republicans in the 21s century have created the greatest income redistribution in the history of this planet from middle-class Americans to the Elon Musks of the world,” he added. “It’s grotesque.”
Follow Trent Baker on Twitter @MagnifiTrent
The Biden Administration Insisted It Wouldn’t Fund Crack Pipes. A New Report Shows Otherwise.
The Biden administration is funding the distribution of crack pipes, according to a report from the Daily Caller, which indicates that so-called harm reduction facilities that received administration grants are in fact distributing the pipes.
The news comes after administration officials insisted taxpayer dollars would not be used for this purpose and described a Washington Free Beacon report on their harm reduction grant program as "misinformation." The Caller reported Friday, however, that it received two smoking kits that contain crack pipes, condoms, and lubricant from the New York Harm Reduction Educators, which received $398,960 in May from the Department of Health and Human Services through its harm reduction grant program.
The Caller received its crack pipes "after spending about 10 minutes on paperwork with basic information," according to the report. Not only were they given drug paraphernalia: The reporters were invited to smoke on the premises. One employee asked a reporter to use the crack pipe in a supervised room at the harm reduction center, saying the drug paraphernalia could not be used outside the facility because it was too close to a school.
When HHS announced the recipients of its $30 million harm reduction program in May, it included a note at the top of its grant webpage stating that "no federal funding is used directly or through subsequent reimbursement of grantees to purchase pipes in safer smoking kits." The announcement came after the Free Beacon first reported in February that the HHS harm reduction program was set to fund the distribution of crack pipes. The White House denounced the story as "disinformation" and said smoking kits funded by its program would not include a crack pipe. The Free Beacon subsequently obtained smoking kits in five East Coast cities that all contained crack pipes.
HHS, in a statement to the Caller, claimed the New York Harm Reduction Educators has yet to use the federal funds it received and that its purchases will have to be approved by the government.
The report comes as Congress moves to stop the Biden administration from funding crack pipe distribution. The House Appropriations Committee this month voted unanimously to include a provision in the HHS budget that prevents the agency from funding the drug paraphernalia.
"None of the funds made available by this Act should be used to purchase, procure, or distribute pipes or similar cylinder objects for smoking or inhaling any controlled substance in schedule 1 of the Controlled Substances Act," the amendment states.
The amendment vote comes one week after the House passed a separate Democrat-sponsored bill that similarly banned the department from funding crack pipes through mental health and substance abuse programs.
The votes signal that President Joe Biden's congressional allies no longer believe White House claims that the administration never planned to fund crack pipes. Rep. John Moolenaar (R., Mich.), who sponsored the amendment in the HHS funding package, said he was pleased that Democrats have now joined Republicans to hold Biden accountable for his radical policies.
"While most of the media stopped following the crack pipes story and some outlets tried to suppress it, the Free Beacon deserves a lot of credit for continuing to shine a light on this issue," Moolenaar told the Free Beacon. "Now even Democrats are recognizing this was an abuse of tax dollars."
Biden Admin Stonewalls on Release of Thousands of Illegal Immigrants Into New York
The Biden administration has spent nearly eight months stonewalling a congressional investigation into its relocation and vetting of nearly 3,000 illegal immigrant children to New York.
Rep. Andrew Garbarino (R., N.Y.), a member of the House Homeland Security Committee, accused the administration of stymieing congressional attempts to obtain information about a series of 2021 flights that carried unaccompanied immigrant children from the southern border to communities in New York.
"Almost eight months have passed since my initial letter, and six months since my second letter, and I have yet to receive a response from your administration," Garbarino wrote in a letter sent Friday to the White House and Department of Homeland Security, a copy of which was obtained by the Washington Free Beacon. "Now, additional acts of crime and violence are surfacing, and I remain troubled by the potential security and health risks that these undocumented migrants pose to my constituents."
Garbarino and other Republicans in Congress who oversee DHS suspect that the administration did not properly perform security screening and medical tests on these undocumented children before introducing them into U.S. communities, some of which have since experienced a spike in crime attributed to these illegal immigrants. The Biden administration tried to keep these flights secret, but media reports late last year exposed the effort, sparking congressional ire and a spate of investigations. Nearly a year later, it has become clear that the relocation of these minors poses a security risk, including increased recruitment by the MS-13 gang.
"The tactics you've used to transport migrants in the dead of night and your failure to provide state and local leaders with sufficient security or demographic data and resources has left Long Island communities to suffer the consequences of your misguided immigration policies," Garbarino wrote.
The lawmaker is asking the Biden administration to brief Congress on its relocation effort and hand over information "about who these people are, what their security vetting and COVID-19 screening status is, and how local resources will be impacted." Garbarino also wants details about "what you intend to do moving forward in light of these growing concerns about public safety and security in my district and in communities across the United States."
The Biden administration's "weak policies have directly resulted in an increased threat of crime and gang violence on Long Island," Garbarino wrote.
Last week, five teenagers living at the MercyFirst children's center in Syosset, N.Y., one of the locations to which illegal immigrants were sent, conducted a series of burglaries at seven small businesses that resulted in "thousands of dollars of damage as a result of the actions of unsupervised minors," according to Garbarino.
The burglaries came several months after a violent brawl broke out at MercyFirst, leaving one law enforcement officer with a broken hand and another with concussion.
These incidents have reignited concerns over the lack of security screening implemented by the administration when it decided to relocate the immigrant children.
"Ongoing media reports highlighting crime and violence surrounding the MercyFirst shelter brings to the forefront the question of whether if unaccompanied migrants relocated there by your administration have played a role in creating or exasperating the problem," Garbarino wrote.
Minors who are dumped into U.S. communities are susceptible to recruitment from violent gangs, such as MS-13, that prey on vulnerable children. The administration's refusal to provide Congress and state officials with information about these undocumented minors makes it more likely they will fall victim to gangs, Garbarino says.
"If we don't have a clear picture of who these children are and when they are being brought to New York, we can't safeguard them or our community from that eventuality," Garbarino wrote. "MS-13 is a scourge in my district and will continue to exploit the cracks in our nation's immigration system and corrupt vulnerable minors unless changes are made."
‘Defund the Cartels’ — Rep. Mayra Flores Talks Border Crisis in Exclusive Interview
A newly-elected Texas Congresswoman is calling for the defunding of the Mexican cartels effectively in control of the U.S. southwestern border.
“We need to defund the cartels,” U.S. Congresswoman Mayra Flores said during an exclusive interview in Spanish with Breitbart News, where she talked about how criminal organizations from Mexico are the only ones benefiting from the current border crisis.
Flores made history in June when she became the first Mexican-born female to be elected to the House of Representatives. She flipped Texas Congressional District 34, which was historically a Democrat stronghold.
“Unfortunately, we have a border that is in control of criminal organizations,” Flores said, referring to the operational control along the border by the Gulf Cartel and the Cartel Del Noreste faction of Los Zetas. Currently, the Gulf Cartel operates one of the most active human and drug trafficking corridors in Flores’s district. “It is a sad reality, but no one can cross the border into this country without having to pay thousands of dollars to criminal organizations.”
The issue which has been largely ignored by most politicians in Washington and helped create a cycle of violence and abuse where women and children suffer unspeakable horrors at the hands of cartel-connected smugglers, she said.
In many cases, victims suffer sexual and physical abuse. In other instances, victims are kidnapped and held for ransom. “It is something that is happening that in reality, it embarrasses me that it is happening in this country because we are better than that,” Flores added.
According to Flores, securing the border and creating a streamlined process for legal immigration would help to defund cartels.
“I believe that we need to secure our border and to help good people come here legally,” she said. “Where there is a safe process also where people can come without having to go through, like I said before, without having to go through hell.”
El Chapo’s Wife Arrested in Virginia on Drug Conspiracy Charge
ILDEFONSO ORTIZ and BRANDON DARBY
The wife of notorious Mexican kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman faces drug trafficking charges after U.S. agents arrested her in Virginia. She is expected to appear before a judge Tuesday, February 23.
The arrest took place Monday at Dulles International Airport where authorities arrested 31-year-old Emma Coronel Aispuro, a prepared statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office revealed. Prosecutors claim Coronel took part in drug trafficking conspiracies and helped plan her husband’s second prison escape in 2015 from the Altiplano facility in Mexico. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Coronel is charged with one count of drug trafficking conspiracy.
El Chapo is serving a life sentence in a U.S. prison after a widely publicized trial where Mexico’s highest levels of government were named as having worked with the Sinaloa Cartel. Witness testimony points to current Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and his predecessor as having received money from El Chapo’s associates.
In October 2019, Lopez Obrador received significant criticism after he ordered authorities to release one of El Chapo’s sons in Sinaloa. Lopez Obrador claimed that the move was done to avoid bloodshed since the cartel gunmen threatened acts of extreme violence.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at Iortiz@breitbart.com.
Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.
GRAPHIC EXCLUSIVE: Mexican Authorities Probe Alliance Between Cartels to Hold Turf near Texas
Authorities are investigating the inner workings of a new alliance between two of the most violent cartels in Mexico. Information exclusively confirmed to Breitbart Texas by top security officials suggests Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG) and La Linea are joining forces against the Sinaloa Cartel.
Breitbart Texas consulted top Mexican federal law enforcement sources who revealed meetings at the highest levels over concerns that an alliance was appearing to be forged. The allied goal is to stop the spread of factions from the Sinaloa Cartel as they make inroads in the border state of Chihuahua–putting La Linea’s interests near Texas at risk. Preliminary information does not yet specify if the alliance will lead to additional gunmen, weapons, or financial assistance from Jalisco. The turf war in Chihuahua has already led to more than 200 high-impact crimes since the beginning of 2021.
Chihuahua is home to Ciudad Juarez, a border city that once was known as the murder capital of the world after the long history of disputes between the Juarez Cartel (aka La Linea) and the Sinaloa Cartel. In a similar fashion, CJNG is currently considered the biggest rival to the Sinaloa Cartel as the two fight throughout Mexico for turf.
Last week, a fierce shootout between a faction of the Sinaloa Cartel known as Gente Nueva and La Linea led to a gory scene that sparked controversy after gunmen left three severed heads on an SUV. The Gente Nueva faction is currently led by Antonio Leonel “El 300” or “Bin Laden” Camacho Mendoza.
The shootout took place near Jimenez, leaving at least five dead gunmen, shot-up vehicles, and thousands of spent ammunition casings. Members of La Linea leaked video of a gunman severing the heads of fallen rivals while chanting the name of his organization.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at Iortiz@breitbart.com.
Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.
Gerald “Tony” Aranda is a contributing writer for Breitbart Texas.
Texas Towns Cope with Migrant Wave Not Tested for Coronavirus
LOREN ELLIOTT/AFP/Getty Images
24 Feb 2021217
5:01
President Joe Biden’s deputies are dropping many poor migrants with coronavirus into Americans’ neighborhoods, according to a report in the New York Times.
On February 23, the newspaper reported a statement about the drop-offs they say came from Juan “Trey” Mendez, the mayor of Brownsville:
“If it’s several hundred overnight, then that’s something that would become overwhelming for us,” said Mr. Mendez. “The administration is very well aware of that — we’ve conveyed that on numerous occasions.”
Elsewhere on the border, local officials are decrying the administration’s policy of dumping the poor migrants into Americans’ neighborhoods. CNN reported February 19:
… communities along the border in Texas have expressed concern about migrants being released during the pandemic. McAllen requested thousands of Covid-19 tests from state officials last month after learning migrants were not being tested by CBP.
“To drop them off at our bus station without testing them first? I think that’s irresponsible to not only the border but the whole United States,” said McAllen Mayor Jim Darling.
Biden’s deputies are encouraging the migrants to travel to the U.S. border so they can be released via a variety of legal covers. The covers include asylum applications, the 2015 Flores rule, or the 2008 law for supposedly unaccompanied minors.
Fortune 500 business groups back this progressive policy of extracting young migrants from Central America because it helps deliver more wage-cutting workers, taxpayer-aided consumers, renters, K-12 students, and diversity into the U.S. consumer market.
Even as agency officials release disease-carrying migrants into the United States, they are also claiming they will preserve President Donald Trump’s border protections. On February 19, for example, officials tweeted:
To protect our citizens and prevent the further spread of COVID-19, the United States, Canada, and Mexico are extending the restrictions on non-essential travel at our land borders through March 21. We are also working to ensure essential trade and travel remain open.
The New York Times described the catch and release end of the migration process:
On Saturday, border agents dropped off a dozen migrants, all mothers and small children, outside the Brownsville bus station. Some said they were held longer than the 72-hour limit that border agents are allowed to detain children. Within minutes, a team of city officials and volunteers had begun setting up a station to test for the coronavirus. With a negative test, they were allowed into the station to continue their journey. If they tested positive, the volunteers used donations to pay for their quarantine at a local hotel — although it was not mandatory. Within three hours, the number of migrants at the station grew to about 50.
Doris, a mother of two boys who fled an abusive former partner in Guatemala and crossed the border in recent weeks, did not expect to be provided testing, blankets or coloring books for her children when she was dropped off on Saturday. “They’re very good people,” she said of the city staff and volunteers.
CNN noted that the Biden migrants are responding to Biden’s incentives:
Edwin Rubio and his family were dropped off at the McAllen bus station on a Wednesday morning in early February. Rubio told CNN they decided to make the trek from Honduras to seek asylum after President Joe Biden was elected. “There will be new laws, new immigration laws that will favor Latinos,” he said.
For years, a wide variety of pollsters have shown deep and broad opposition to labor migration and to the inflow of temporary contract workers into jobs sought by young U.S. graduates.
The multiracial, cross-sex, non-racist, class-based, intra-Democratic, and solidarity-themed opposition to labor migration coexists with generally favorable personal feelings toward legal immigrants and toward immigration in theory — despite the media magnification of many skewed polls and articles that still push the 1950’s corporate “Nation of Immigrants” claim.
The deep public opposition is built on the widespread recognition that migration moves money from employees to employers, from families to investors, from young to old, from children to their parents, from homebuyers to real estate investors, and from the central states to the coastal states.
However, Biden’s officials have been broadcasting their desire to refocus the DHS and USCIS on helping to extract more migrants from Central America for the U.S. economy. On February 19, for example, DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas’ deputies posted a tweet offering support to migrants illegally working in the United States and to migrants who may wish to live in the United States.
The fuss over 'kid in cages' was a crude gotcha by click-bait journos.
Fuss helps to hide the reality that Biden's facilities pump more blue-collar migrants into the economy – while Trump's facilities reduced the migration that shifts wages to Wall St.https://t.co/3wPnFX17Fa
— Neil Munro (@NeilMunroDC) February 24, 2021
Federal Judge Puts Indefinite Hold on Biden’s Plans to Halt Deportations
Photo: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
24 Feb 2021556
2:46
A federal judge in South Texas indefinitely extended his order stopping the Biden Administration’s plans to halt all deportations for 100 days. The new order effectively blocks President Joe Biden from his promise to temporarily stop deporting criminal migrants.
U.S. District Court Judge Drew Tipton placed an indefinite ban on the enforcement of President Biden’s memorandum ordering the cessation of all deportations for 100 days, Fox News reported. Tipton, a judge in the Southern District of Texas, issued a two-week restraining order after the Texas Attorney General’s Office filed a lawsuit in January claiming Biden’s order was unconstitutional.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton claimed the memorandum signed by President Biden violated an agreement between Texas and the Department of Homeland Security requiring consultation before such a move can be put into action. Paxton also said Biden’s executive order violates federal law.
“The Court’s decision to stop the Biden administration from casting aside congressionally enacted immigration laws is a much-needed remedy for DHS’s unlawful action,” Paxton said in a January statement. “A near-complete suspension of deportations would only serve to endanger Texans and undermine federal law.”
Fox News reported:
The agreement means that DHS must give Texas 180 days’ notice of any proposed change on any matter that would reduce enforcement or increase the number of “removable or inadmissible aliens” in the U.S. Paxton claims that agreement has been violated.
Under the judge’s order, the Biden executive order cannot be implemented by the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
During Fiscal Year 2020, which ended on September 30, 2020, ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations officers deported 185,884 migrants who were ordered removed by a federal immigration judge. Of those, 92 percent had criminal convictions or pending criminal charges. The deportations also include 4,276 known or suspected gang members and 31 known or suspected terrorists, according to a year-end report published by ICE.
Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior news contributor for the Breitbart Texas-Border team. He is an original member of the Breitbart Texas team. Price is a regular panelist on Fox 26 Houston’s Sunday-morning talk show, What’s Your Point? Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX, Parler @BobPrice, and Facebook.
EXCLUSIVE: Feds Increase Migrant Releases amid Detention Space Shortages
File Photo: LOREN ELLIOTT/AFP via Getty Images
23 Feb 202139
3:24
U.S. Border Patrol issued instructions to begin the immediate release of migrants to avoid overcrowding in temporary holding facilities as ICE struggles to cope with increasing apprehension rates along the southwestern border.
This development follows a short-lived plan to move released migrants further inland to alleviate stress on the typically smaller border communities.
Now, ICE’s ability to transport illegal immigrants further into the United States is strained due to the new influx of migrants appearing in recent weeks, law enforcement sources tell Breitbart Texas.
In the Rio Grande Valley, more than 2,000 asylum seekers were apprehended within the last 48 hours. Sources report that at least 600 family unit members are in custody and cannot be returned to Mexico under the CDC Title 42 COVID-19 emergency order. Border Patrol agents are also struggling with the spike in single adults from Central America and far beyond the Americas.
The Rio Grande Valley has seen a 647% increase in family unit asylum seekers over the course of seven weeks. The peaks are seen across the southern border sectors, according to law enforcement sources familiar with the situation.
Prior to the cancellation the Trump administration’s agreements with Central American countries known as Asylum Cooperation Agreements (ACAs), seekers were swiftly returned to their home country when credible fear interviews disqualified them from further consideration. In addition, the Migrant Protection Protocols, also known as the Remain in Mexico Program, forced the returns of many to await hearing dates in Mexico and therefore avoided release into the United States.
Federal sources tell Breitbart Texas the order was received mid-afternoon today from CBP officials in Washington, D.C. to begin broader migrant releases as suitable detention space and nonprofit alternatives are overwhelmed.
ICE provided the following statement concerning the situation:
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) constantly evaluates its posture at Family Residential Centers to meet changing operational needs. Custody determinations are made on a case-by-case basis in accordance with US law and DHS policy. Individuals can be released from custody based on the facts and circumstances of their cases, and may be placed in alternatives to detention, including release on recognizance, or formal monitoring programs.
The categories qualifying for release, as reported by law enforcement sources, in addition to family unit members not accepted by Mexico under the CDC Title 42 COVID-19 guidelines, includes all single adult apprehensions with no criminal history in the United States.
The new development further promises to burden small border communities and NGOs to absorb the mounting humanitarian and public health crises.
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.
Current Mexican Border State Governor Faces Organized Crime Probe
Breitbart Border / Cartel Chronicles
ILDEFONSO ORTIZ and BRANDON DARBY
24 Feb 202111
4:35
Federal prosecutors in Mexico are targeting a border state governor in an organized crime investigation and are asking that nation’s legislature to strip his criminal immunity protections. Prosecutors also say they are reviewing money laundering and tax fraud allegations.
Federal prosecutors in a money-laundering task force from Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office (FGR) filed a request with congressional leaders for hearings to remove criminal immunity and target Tamaulipas Governor Francisco Javier Cabeza de Vaca in connection with an investigation into organized criminal activity, money laundering, and tax fraud. The matter became public after Moises Ignacio Mier Velazco, a congressional leader with the MORENA Party, tweeted the document. The hearing is scheduled for Thursday, February 25.
Hoy fui notificado que la @Mx_Diputados recibió la solicitud de declaratoria de procedencia en contra del gobernador de Tamaulipas Francisco GarcÃa Cabeza de Vaca por la probable comisión de los delitos de delincuencia organizada y operaciones con recursos de procedencia ilÃcita pic.twitter.com/naMkIzDnuX
— Ignacio Mier Velazco (@NachoMierV) February 24, 2021
During a morning news conference, Mexico’s Attorney General Alejandro Gertz Manero claimed that the investigation was not political, though Cabeza de Vaca is one of the most vocal opponents to current president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.
La petición de desafuero para investigar al Gobernador de Tamaulipas, Francisco GarcÃa Cabeza de Vaca, no es una venganza ni tiene tintes polÃticos asegura el Fiscal Alejandro Gertz pic.twitter.com/EtQxnIR6S8
— Azucena Uresti (@azucenau) February 24, 2021
In response to the allegations, Cabeza de Vaca took to social media claiming he was the target of a political attack and that he was not notified of the matter but would fight the charges.
Morena filtra una supuesta acusación en mi contra. De nuevo el uso faccioso de la justicia donde no hay delito. Se orquesta una embestida polÃtica. Esperaré a ser notificado para tener detalles y fijar mi posición. Nunca he violado la ley. Me defenderé ante cualquier atropello.
— Fco. Cabeza de Vaca (@fgcabezadevaca) February 24, 2021
Mexico’s Financial Intelligence Unit previously revealed to news outlets that they had an open investigation into Cabeza de Vaca’s family on money laundering concerns. In August, the border state governor denied allegations of being tied to cartels during a news conference with Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. Cabeza de Vaca warned about playing politics with allegations of ties to organized crime because such “games” risked lives.
Aquà jugarle a la politiquerÃa cuesta vidas, Señor Presidente.
Y ahora quieren desaforarlo y abrirle carpeta en la FGR.
Ajá, no son iguales.
Salieron mucho peores.
— LuisCardenasMX (@LuisCardenasMx) February 24, 2021
Most recently, Cabeza de Vaca was tied to controversy after after a dozen state police officers murdered and incinerated Central American migrants in route to the Texas Border. The massacre is the latest of a series of allegations of police brutality and cooperation with cartels.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at Iortiz@breitbart.com.
Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.
Clark: Biden’s Amnesty Bill Worsens Flaws in America’s Broken Immigration System
File Photo: Kris Grogan, CBP Office of Public Affairs
22 Feb 202179
5:01
Last week, the U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021 was submitted to Congress as the first major immigration-related legislation of the Biden Administration. It consists of more than 350 pages of amendments to existing federal laws.
The first action out of the gate focuses on terminology: every reference to the word “alien” in existing statutes are removed and replaced with the word “non-citizen.”
The bill ponders amnesty for more than 11 million illegal immigrants in the United States who have been physically present since or before January 1, 2021. It also creates and funds a slew of programs like economic incentives to improve education and employment opportunities for Central American asylum seekers and refugees.
The bill allocates $4 billion to tackle what the White House considers are root problems for irregular migration. Funds are dedicated to address extensive poverty, provide workforce development, school safety, teacher training, and small business resources in Central America.
Social Security cards and work authorization permits are made available to applicants. Tax dollars are also earmarked for domestic advertising campaigns to promote the amnesty offer. Community centers offering legal advice are also promised.
Catch-and-Release becomes federal law. Section 4305, Alternatives to Detention, allows asylum applicants released along the U.S. border to be placed in community supervision programs. Local communities–not ICE—would account for the supervision and whereabouts of newly released migrants.
The bill authorizes federal grants to assist public school districts to improve educational opportunities for asylum seekers. It also provides grants to communities to offer workforce training. The bill prohibits universities from charging out of state tuition.
The mere promise of the legislation is a signal to economic migrants abroad that now is the time to find a way to the United States. History has shown, especially under the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA), that eligibility or lack thereof can at times be hard to prove. More than three million illegal immigrants applied for amnesty under IRCA. It was designed to provide amnesty for those physically present in the United States prior to 1982 and to those who had worked in agriculture for a total of 90 days. The bipartisan measure also boosted the ranks of the Border Patrol. Added in were enforcement provisions that sanctioned employers who hired illegal immigrants in the future. Those sanctions ultimately proved to be a bust.
Estimates of the level of fraud under IRCA varied, but to Border Patrol Agents working at the time, it was obvious. The current legislation would provide equal opportunity to game the system based upon the sheer volume of anticipated applications.
Some past amnesty recipients who were arrested by Border Patrol for human trafficking or narcotics smuggling demonstrated little knowledge about agricultural work. As part of the criminal case files, these frauds were documented. Facing political pressure, suspects were ultimately convicted on smuggling matters alone.
If enacted today, the volume of applications would surely result in a rubber-stamp approval process, much like what was seen in the 1980s. As a result of IRCA, fly by night immigration consultants quickly opened businesses to capitalize on the application process. In some instances, undercover investigators with the Border Patrol posed as amnesty seekers who were clearly ineligible. In some cases, they were turned away. In others, they were sold fraudulent documents to bolster claims of eligibility. The latter cases resulted in the arrests and prosecutions of the business owners.
The fraudulent operations from the 1980s risk being repeated under the Biden plan. The requirement to have been physically present in the U.S. prior to January 1, 2021 will be easily defeated with a fraudulent rent receipts or other witness statements. Investigating every single claim of eligibility beyond face value information would be insurmountable, given the expected volume of cases.
The COVID-19 pandemic is brushed aside under the proposed bill. The legislation does not address testing or vaccinations for new arrivals at the border.
The U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021, in sum, exacerbates some of the most broken elements of the American immigration system and ignores lessons from the recent past.
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.
Three Kidnap Victims Rescued After Border City Shootout in Mexico
20 Feb 202123
2:35
REYNOSA, Tamaulipas – State police officers in Mexico rescued three kidnapping victims after a shootout with suspected cartel gunmen in the border city of Reynosa.
The rescue took place early on Friday morning when Tamaulipas state police officers patrolling the central part of the city spotted a sand-colored SUV carrying suspected gunmen. The officers attempted to pull over the vehicle. Rather than stop, the gunmen sped away leading authorities in a chase. During the chase, the gunmen fired at police with AK-47 rifles setting off a short but intense gun battle.
The gunmen fired several rounds into the police vehicle forcing them to slow down as the gunmen pulled away. The gunmen were then able to leave the vehicle and run away. When police officers reached the vehicle they found a wounded woman and two men in the vehicle. The three individuals were handcuffed and are believed to have been kidnapping victims. The victims were taken to a local hospital.
The shootout and kidnapping come at a time when the border city of Reynosa faces a continuing spike in armed robberies and high-impact crimes. Officials attribute the crime wave to a cash shortage in the Reynosa faction of the Gulf Cartel. The criminal organization is linked to numerous carjackings, armed robberies, kidnappings, and extortions. The lack of funds is tied not only to smuggling activities but also to the expense of two long-term turf wars — one to the east with a rival faction of the Gulf Cartel from Matamoros and one to the west with the Cartel Del Noreste faction of Los Zetas.
The shootouts with the CDN-Los Zetas do not take place in Reynosa, but further west near Miguel Aleman and surrounding areas. The shootouts with the Matamoros faction of the Gulf Cartel routinely take place in the east side of Reynosa, near the Pharr International Bridge, and the international airport.
Editor’s Note: Breitbart Texas traveled to the Mexican States of Tamaulipas, Coahuila, and Nuevo León to recruit citizen journalists willing to risk their lives and expose the cartels silencing their communities. The writers would face certain death at the hands of the various cartels that operate in those areas including the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas if a pseudonym were not used. Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles are published in both English and in their original Spanish. This article was written by “J.C. Sanchez” from Tamaulipas.
Vicente Fox sticks his nose into the El Chapo case
Vicente Fox got off to a great start by winning the 2000 presidential election and putting an end to 70-something years of one-party rule in Mexico. It was historic and very promising but did not quite work out as most Mexicans anticipated. To be fair, the Mexican swamp is a bit more complicated than ours.
Since leaving office in 2006, President Fox has found a way of sticking his nose in everything, especially getting into fights with President Trump over the border wall.
He is back in the news with a rather interesting tweet about Emma Coronel Aispuro, El Chapo's young pretty wife. By the way, how do they say "trophy wife" in Spanish? I'm not sure, but Emma fits the description.
"El Presidente" Fox tweeted about the arrest and a lot of Mexicans are wondering what in the world he's talking about. He wrote in Spanish something like this: "Don't worry, Emma. The president will come to the rescue!!"
What's that supposed to mean? President Lopez-Obrador is going to intervene to get her out of the U.S.? I think that he was referring to the 2020 arrest of a former Mexican defense secretary, retired Gen. Salvador Cienfuegos. He was accused of drug trafficking and money laundering, the same as El Chapo's wife.
I asked a couple of Mexican friends south of the border and got a couple of interesting responses:
First, Vicente Fox is just looking for attention. He wants an interview with CNN; and,
Second, El Chapo just wants his pretty wife in prison so he can spend more time with her.
Time will tell but Mexican politics just gets more and more interesting all the time.
P.S. You can listen to my show (Canto Talk).
Mexican President AMLO Lectures Americans: Reject ‘Conservatism,’ Accept ‘Transformation’
Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) lectured American citizens on Tuesday, urging them to reject “conservative” and embrace “transformation.”
During a press conference with President Joe Biden, AMLO attacked “the conservatives” in the United States for their opposition to the administration’s globalist agenda on energy, trade, and immigration.
“I know that your adversaries — the conservatives — are going to be screaming all over the place, even to heaven,” AMLO said. “They’re going to be yelling at heaven.”
“In the face of this crisis, the way out is not through conservatism,” he continued. “The way out is through transformation. We have to be bold in our actions. Transform not maintain the status quo.”
Instead of defending Americans, Biden seemingly agreed with AMLO.
“We have liberals, moderates, conservatives, and extreme conservatives,” Biden said. “I’m waiting for the Republican Party to come back to traditional conservative positions. We have to start to talk with them, to one another, in this country, with respect.”
AMLO also suggested that “it is indispensable” for Biden and Congress to pass amnesty for illegal aliens living in the U.S.
“It is indispensable for us to regularize and give certainty to migrants that have for years lived and worked in a very honest manner, and who are also contributing to the development of this great nation,” AMLO said.
In May, more than 222,000 border crossers and illegal aliens were apprehended at the U.S.-Mexico border — the largest level of monthly illegal immigration since the Clinton administration. Since Biden took office, his administration has released over a million border crossers and illegal aliens into American communities.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here.
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