“Not only is the Biden administration refusing to rein-in illegal immigration or remove the people who are breaking our laws, they are promulgating policies that actually encourage more of it while offering new protections and benefits to those who settle here illegally.
Yellen: Biden 'Stands Ready to Work With Congress to Shore Up Social Security'
(CNSNews.com) - "President Biden stands ready to work with Congress to shore up Social Security and discuss possible approaches," Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told the Senate Finance Committee on Thursday.
"So that's a conversation that it's important for us to have. He has made explicit proposals in connection with Medicare in shoring it up, and it's important to have that conversation about Social Security," she said.
"The president believes strongly that that should not involve cutting benefits or going back on our commitments to America's seniors, but certainly it's a discussion we need to have."
If nothing is done, the Social Security Trust Fund will start running out of money in 2035, triggering a 24-percent cut in benefits.
And, as Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) told Yellen, "The president's budget includes no proposal to extend the solvency of the Social Security Trust Fund. Anyone who knows that things get done around here know it takes presidential leadership to lead major reforms to Social Security."
Grassley told Yellen, who is the managing trustee of the Social Security and Medicare Trust Funds, he assumes that Yellen and Biden are "sincere" in wanting to avoid benefit cuts.
"It would help a lot if the president would quit demagoguing the Social Security issue the way he has in recent weeks," Grassley told her.
At that same hearing, Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) also raised the Social Security issue with Yellen, asking her if President Biden is aware that, under current law, "when the program goes broke in nine years, that there will be a 24 percent benefit cut for those who are current recipients? Is he aware of that?" Cassidy asked her.
"If we don't do anything about it, I think that's about right," Yellen agreed. "The president will want -- wants to strengthen Social Security and make sure that doesn't happen."
Yellen said Biden "stands ready to work with Congress," but a frustrated Cassidy said no, apparently he doesn't:
"That's a lie, because a bipartisan group of senators has repeatedly requested to meet with him about Social (Security) so that somebody who is a current beneficiary will not see her benefits cut by 24 percent. We have not heard anything on our request.
"And we've made multiple requests to meet with the president. Now you can't comment on that, I realize that, but that is a fact.
"And if you've been told to say he stands ready to meet, I will tell you, there's absolutely no evidence because we have not gotten our meeting."
"Well," said Yellen, "I believe the president does stand ready to work with Congress to address this issue."
"Well, again, empirically that is not true," Cassidy said.
Ahead of his anticipated run for re-election, President Biden is campaigning on the false premise that Republicans want to "cut" Social Security. He repeatedly points to a plan proposed by Republican Sen. Rick Scott, who has suggested "sunsetting" all federal legislation every five years, and if the law is worth keeping, Congress could pass it again.
Not all Republicans agree with Scott's plan; and not a single Republican (or Democrat) has called for Social Security benefit cuts, as Biden has misleadingly suggested.
In a speech in Florida last month, Biden slammed Scott's plan, which is not the Republican Party plan:
"I guarantee you, it will not happen," Biden said. "I will veto it. I'll defend Social Security and Medicare."
"Look, I know that a lot of Republicans, their dream is to cut Social Security and Medicare," Biden said. "Well, let me say this: If that’s your dream, I’m your nightmare."
"I will not cut a single Social Security or Medicare benefit," Biden said in that speech. "And I’ll pay for it all, my proposals, by making the wealthy and big corporations pay just a little bit more."
Illegal Immigration Costs Average Taxpayer $957 Annually, New Study Finds
Illegal immigration costs each American taxpayer $1,156 per year ($957 after factoring in taxes paid by illegal aliens), a new analysis by the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) finds.
The annual gross cost (state and federal) of illegal immigration is now $183 billion, up more than thirty-five percent since 2017, according to the FAIR report released this week:
“In total, the gross cost of illegal immigration now total $183 billion, up more than 35.7 percent since 2017. The cost incurred per illegal alien (including their U.S.-born children) has increased as well, now totaling $8,776 annually.”
Even after the tax contributions of illegal aliens is deducted, the average American taxpayer is on the hook for nearly a thousand dollars, the study shows:
“When the taxes paid by illegal aliens are factored in, the net cost of illegal immigration to U.S. taxpayers is now $150.7 billion. This means that each American taxpayer shells out a net average of $956 (or $1,156 before the taxes paid by illegal aliens are factored in) due to illegal immigration.”
…
“Taxes paid by illegal immigrants only covered around 17.2 percent of the costs they created for American citizens.”
The report provides the following breakdown of annual federal, state and local government expenditures:
- Total Federal Expenditures $66,449,136,000
- Total State and Local Expenditures $115,608,729,000
- Total National Expenditures $182,057,865,000
- Total Net Tax Contributions $31,391,635,00
- Total Fiscal Cost of Illegal Immigration on U.S. Taxpayers: $150,666,230,000
“Most of the additional costs have been added in the past two years, as the Biden administration’s de facto open borders policies have triggered a historic surge of new illegal migrants pouring across our borders,” the study concludes.
But, it’s not just the Biden Administration that’s to blame, since new state and local policies have also encouraged the influx of illegal aliens, FARI President Dan Stein said in a press release introducing the study:
“Not only is the Biden administration refusing to rein-in illegal immigration or remove the people who are breaking our laws, they are promulgating policies that actually encourage more of it while offering new protections and benefits to those who settle here illegally.
“Likewise, a growing number of states and localities create their own costly magnets for illegal aliens by declaring themselves sanctuaries and offering new benefits and services.”
FAIR’s analysis breaks down the cost of illegal immigration by type of government expenditure: medical, education, law enforcement and welfare.
See full report.
GOP Congressman: Border Patrol Chief’s Testimony Shows DHS Secretary ‘Has Been Lying to Us For the Last 2 Years’
(CNSNews.com) – Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-Fla.) said Friday that U.S. Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz’s testimony before the House Homeland Security Committee this week shows that DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has been lying to Congress for the last two years about the southern border being under control.
The congressman said he thinks the number of gotaways at the southern border is actually higher than Ortiz’s estimate of 358,000 gotaways plus 10 to 20 percent more so far this year.
“Well those are folks that don't want to be apprehended. The majority of migrants coming through they actually follow signs that takes them right to the Customs and Border Patrol agents, and they turn themselves in knowing that with all probability they’re going to be allowed in the United States,” the congressman told Fox Business’ “Mornings with Maria Bartiromo.”
“There’s 1.3 million that we know of, and like the chef said, there’s another 10 or 20% - I actually think that is low. I think it’s even higher than that, that got away that don't want to be detected, and they got away. We don't know who they are. We don't know where they came from. We don't know where they are. We certainly don't know what they are doing here or what their intentions are,” he said.
Jimenez commended Ortiz for his courage for being honest about the real situation at the border.
“Even the chief and I got to give him kudos for courage, he told us that out of nine sectors that he controls the customs and border protection now have, five of them are out of control,” the congressman said.
“He has no operational control on five out of the nine sectors on our southern border, which is in direct contradiction to what Secretary Mayorkas has been telling us for two years that no this border is under control,” he said.
“The chief in charge of all those agents has said and told under oath that five of those sectors are out of control, so basically—no, not basically. The second has been lying to us for the last two years.” Jimenez said.
When asked if he wants DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas impeached, the congressman said, “Yeah, no, no, I mean this secretary is -- is a disaster. The border a disaster. You know he was appointed by President Biden.
“He should remove him, but I believe that actually he’s doing President Biden’s bidding, so I think President Biden I think is really happy what is going on at the border, because another question that I asked is you know is the president dumb or Secretary Mayorkas are they dumb. The answer was no, and I don't believe they are dumb,” he said.
“So they've been told over and over again the things they have to do to control border. They refuse to do it which means they want to do it on purpose. So this is all done on purpose. The reasons why they’re doing it on purpose? I don't know. By the way, those -- those terrorists that we know we got, they were apprehended,” Jimenez said.
“How many terrorists actually getting through that our gotaways if you are a real terrorist I don't think you really want to go, and get apprehended I think you want to get away, so whatever that number is over 89, 90, that we have apprehended, you can probably triple that on the got away side, at least,” he said.
On China, Jimenez said they are an adversary, not a competitor.
“Look our select committee says competitor, but no. They are an adversary. Look, a competitor is somebody that’s playing the same game by the same rules. China doesn't play by the same rules. They don’t follow the rules, so that’s an adversary in my estimation, and I am going to be proven right. They totally are an adversary,” he said.
“What China does is not in the best interest of the United States. We need to decouple from China as quickly as possible. We need our allies to decouple as quickly as possible. They want to devour us. I think we've woken up allies starting to wake up too about the reality of what China really is, and threat Chinese communist party poses not only to United States but to rest of the free world,” the congressman said.
Jimenez said that the House Oversight Committee with Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) will dig into why President Biden is so soft on China.
“It could be that he has interests and his family has had interests and has been paid for and paid by Chinese communist party and other nations,” he said.
Border Patrol Is 20 Percent Smaller Than White House Claims, Admin Official Testifies
White House regularly touts 23,000 Border Patrol agents. Border Patrol chief says the number is just 19,000.
The head of the U.S. Border Patrol testified that the size of his agency is nearly 20 percent smaller than the White House claims.
Border Patrol chief Raul Ortiz said he oversees a force of roughly 19,000 during testimony at a special House Homeland Security Committee hearing in McAllen, Texas. That number stands in contrast to statements from the White House, which regularly touts the "more than 23,000" Border Patrol agents deployed to secure the southern border.
Ortiz, who told Congress Wednesday he needs "more officers on the front lines," said he'd need at least 22,000 agents to secure the out-of-control border crisis. "Right now, I have 19,016. My requirement is 22,000 Border Patrol agents," Ortiz said. "Until I can get there, I’m going to require assistance from other agencies. But right now, for me, my priority is doing everything I can to add more personnel to my ranks, so we can make sure that Border Patrol agents are out there doing that job."
Neither the White House nor Customs and Border Protection responded to a request for comment on the discrepancy.
Just this month, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said there are "23,000 federal agents" at the border, crediting the large force for securing the border and falsely claiming it has shut down the flow of fentanyl into the United States. A March 9 White House "fact sheet" said the White House "deployed the most agents ever—more than 23,000—to address the situation at the border." And in December, Jean-Pierre said Biden "secured historic funding" in order to place "23,000 border security agents at the border … the most that we’ve ever had."
Border Patrol union spokesman Chris Cabrera in his testimony supported Ortiz’s staff assessment. Current Border Patrol staff levels "hover around 19,300 agents," with 16,000 of those directly responsible for policing the border, Cabrera said. No Democrats attended the border hearing, claiming Republicans intended to "politicize" the panel.
A senior Department of Homeland Security official told the Washington Free Beacon that the figure put forth by Ortiz is more reliable than what's been spouted by the White House.
"Congressional testimony goes through rigorous review because you can’t lie to Congress, but the White House can lie to the American people," the official said. "If Ortiz testified with that number, he’d have gotten those numbers from his staff so it’s likely correct."
John Modlin, a local Arizona sector chief for U.S. Border Patrol, testified in February that the agency would need at least 22,000 agents in order to handle the flood of migrants at the southern border. There is no indication that the force will grow to this level any time soon, with the size of the force currently shrinking.
Border Patrol suffers from a high attrition rate, which is expected to climb to over 9 percent by 2028, according to Cabrera, the union spokesman.
The lack of staffing has had severe consequences on the agency's effectiveness. More than 385,000 gotaways—illegal immigrants who were seen by authorities but not detained or deported—have been recorded by Border Patrol this fiscal year alone. For comparison, the number of gotaways recorded by CBP was 128,000 in 2018 and 150,000 in 2019. Some estimate that since Biden took office, the United States has seen 1.3 million gotaways.
Ortiz said his agency has no "operational control" of the southern border, contradicting DHS secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. Ortiz said "the cartels control an awful lot of the southern border south of the United States."
"And I still hold true that we have some policies in place where we need to ensure that the men and women out there investigating these criminal cartels are actually allowed to do their job each and every day," Ortiz said later.
Published under: border , Border Crisis , Border Patrol , Illegal Immigration
Over 200 Arrested in Connection with Sex Trafficking of Migrant Women
Over 20 women who are believed to have been trafficked into the United States and forced into the sex trade were rescued in Polk County, Florida.
Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd noted that most of the women identified as victims of sex trafficking are Cuban and were trafficked across the Mexican border.
Judd added that the victims likely started as refugees before coming into contact with human smugglers, often referred to as “coyotes,” who help migrants enter the United States in exchange for a fee. He also noted that it is likely that they were told they would have to engage in prostitution to pay off debt.
Judd noted that the women were threatened with harm to their families back in their home countries if they did not comply with traffickers. A few of the women had arrived in the U.S. within the last 2 weeks, he also stated.
“The human trafficking victim is a very difficult victim to work with, because they are scared,” Sheriff Judd explained.
He also explained that the migrants “told to us that they were paying off their transportation debt, that they were being smuggled into the United States to have sex, that their family at home was being threatened if they didn’t come here and … pay off the debts.” The women are “paying a ridiculous, horrible price,” he added.
Judd also explained that if the federal government truly sought to solve our illegal immigration crisis, they would halt the supply of new migrants:
We don’t do what we need to do … I suggest to you that what we are doing with the immigration issue today is simply this: It’s like you go home this evening, and [discover] ‘Oh my gosh, a pipe is broken and I’ve got water all over the floor.’
The federal government has got water all over the floor and they’re in there trying to mop it up. At least they say they are.
But at the same time, the pipe is still pumping more water onto the floor. The first thing you do if you go home this evening and find a pipe is broken and you’ve got water on the floor is — you go find the source and turn the valve off. Then you mop up and you fix the problem.
An elected official on the school board for San Diego’s Del Mar Union School District named Dr. Scott Wooden was one of the 200 arrests connected to the trafficking victims. Wooden, a molecular biologist who previously owned a massage parlor, allegedly attempted to solicit a prostitute for $200.
Meanwhile, the Del Mar Union School District issued a statement, remarking, “We want to inform you that the Del Mar Union School District received notification that Scott Wooden has resigned from the District’s Governing Board of Trustees effective immediately.”
“The Board is currently exploring options to fill the vacancy. We will keep the community informed as the District moves through this process,” the statement also read.
Judd noted that the victims are being offered an opportunity to get connected with social services and receive help from non-profit organizations such as One More Child. Jodi Domangue, the head of the anti-trafficking unit of One More Child discussed sex trafficking, saying “It most often looks like generations of cyclical poverty and individuals who are desperate to have their needs met for survival,”
Judd explained that they are continuing to investigate who smuggled the victims across the border. “We have caught the buyer and the seller,” he said before adding “That’s what we’ve done today. But we know the buyer and the seller is only the beginning of the chain. It’s not the end of the chain.”
Spencer Lindquist is a reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SpencerLndqst and reach out at slindquist@breitbart.com
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