by Corinne Murdock | Aug 24, 2022 | News
By Corinne Murdock |
Congressman Andy Biggs (R-AZ-05) is requesting information on the Biden administration’s practice of flying illegal immigrants without proper identification around the country. Biggs leads a coalition of 24 Republicans in seeking answers, which includes Congressmen Paul Gosar (R-AZ-04) and Debbie Lesko (R-AZ-08).
In a press release, Biggs accused the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) of using taxpayer dollars to help illegal immigrants reach their desired destinations, further incentivizing illegal crossings. Biggs argued further that the ID standard for illegal immigrants compromises post-9/11 security measures.
“Transporting potentially tens of thousands of lawbreakers throughout the country — with virtually unknown backgrounds — is a national security risk and defies the recommendations made by the 9/11 Commission,” stated Biggs.
In the letter, the coalition noted that about 45,000 illegal immigrants flew without proper ID from last January to October.
READ THE COALITION’S QUESTIONS HERE
According to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), illegal immigrants may use papers related to their immigration processing such as the notice to appear (DHS Form I-862), warrants for arrest of alien (ICE Form I-200) and removal/deportation (ICE Form I-220A), order of supervision (ICE Form I-220B), arrival and departure form (CBP Form I-94), and alien booking record (DHS Form I-385).
Unlike illegal immigrants, American citizens must present a form of government-issued photo ID; alternative IDs like weapon permits and temporary driver’s licenses aren’t acceptable forms of ID.
TSA Administrator David Pekoske claimed in his Senate confirmation hearing last month that less than 1,000 illegal immigrants flew without proper ID this calendar year. Biggs’ coalition challenged that claim as “extremely low” since DHS has released nearly 500,000 illegal immigrants into the country this year.
Pekoske asserted during last month’s hearing that the immigration papers in question offered similar security to traditional forms of ID because they were issued by Border Patrol or a customs officer, and that TSA validated the papers using an alien identification number reflected in Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) databases.
“We aren’t looking at whether a person is legal or illegal in the country,” said Pekoske. “Our role is to make sure that people who may pose a risk to transportation that is significant enough to require enhanced screening or to not allow them to fly.”
The latest CBP reporting shows about 3.5 million illegal immigrant encounters along the southern border since President Joe Biden took office.
The TSA hasn’t been consistently forthright about its allowance of illegal immigrants flying without government-issued photo ID.
In 2014, TSA confirmed that they began accepting notices to appear as acceptable travel ID.
Then in 2017, TSA informed the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) that they did allow notices to appear.
Yet in 2019, TSA publicly denied that they allowed illegal immigrants to present immigrant processing papers.
In January, Congressmen Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY-11) and Rodney Davis (R-IL-13) introduced legislation to prohibit the TSA from allowing illegal immigrants to board planes with alternative forms of ID.
Other congressmen in Biggs’ coalition include Mo Brooks (R-AL-05), Lauren Boebert (R-CO-03), Ken Buck (R-CO-04), Bill Posey (R-FL-08), Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA-14), Jody Hice (R-GA-10), Mary Miller (R-IL-15), Ron Estes (R-KS-04), Andy Harris (R-MD-01), Tom McClintock (R-MN-04), Dan Bishop (R-NC-09), Scott Perry (R-PA-10), Jeff Duncan (R-SC-03), Ralph Norman (R-SC-05), Diana Harshbarger (R-TN-01), Michael Cloud (R-TX-27), Louie Gohmert (R-TX-01), Chip Roy (R-TX-21), Ben Cline (R-VA-06), Bob Good (R-VA-05), and Glenn Grothman (R-WI-06).
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
by Corinne Murdock | Aug 10, 2022 | News
By Corinne Murdock |
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced Tuesday it will lift the Trump-era “Remain in Mexico” program, formally known as the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP).
The program required non-Mexican migrants seeking asylum to wait in Mexico while their claims were processed.
The DHS changes followed a Monday ruling from Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk with the Texas Northern District Court, which lifted his previous injunction from last August requiring DHS to reimplement the MPP in good faith. Kacsmaryk’s recent ruling aligned with the Supreme Court (SCOTUS) reversal in June of his August ruling.
DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has stated that the MPP stands in the way of the immigration system’s improvement.
“The MPP has endemic flaws, imposed unjustifiable human costs, pulled resources and personnel away from other priority efforts, and did not address the root causes of irregular migration,” stated Mayorkas.
Mayorkas cited the Biden administration mantra on immigration — “safe, orderly, and humane” — to contrast MPP with their reform goals.
The “safe, orderly, and human” slogan is cited frequently in left-wing circles. Immigration reform activists, like the Hope Border Institute, used it to praise the Biden administration’s initial rollback of MPP last March.
Catholic bishops along the southern border also cited the slogan while advocating for illegal immigration.
CBP Commissioner Chris Magnus — formerly Tucson’s controversial police chief who told officials not to enforce immigration laws and instead uphold sanctuary city policies — also used the slogan to describe their ideal reimagined approach to border security.
Over 5,700 migrants were enrolled in the MPP from December through June. That’s about 60 percent of initial MPP enrollments, totaling over 9,600, with the remaining 40 percent (over 3,400) disenrolled.
MPP enrollments make up less than one percent (.6 percent) of all illegal immigrant encounters along the southwest border since December: over 1.4 million. As of press time, the southwest border encounter totals for July have yet to be released.
There have been over 3.2 million southwest border encounters since President Joe Biden took office.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
by Corinne Murdock | Jul 31, 2022 | News
By Corinne Murdock |
On Thursday, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced it would close preexisting border wall gaps, but only after ensuring environmental stewardship. This is continuation of a departmental practice dating back well over a decade, one DHS hasn’t expedited or circumvented despite the ongoing border crisis. If DHS maintains similar pace from recent environmental stewardship reviews, it may be well over a year before these gaps are addressed.
The four gaps addressed will be along the incomplete border section in Border Patrol’s Yuma Sector.
The environmental stewardship in question has been a DHS goal since 2008, when Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) introduced an Environmental Stewardship Plan (ESP) and a Biological Resources Plan (BRP) to analyze the potential environmental impacts of border security construction, or tactical infrastructure (TI). Present protocol requires the development of an ESP before commencing the project. One of the latest ESPs was issued in November 2020 for construction announced in May 2019.
Included within an ESP are recommended construction practices to mitigate potential environmental impacts, or Best Management Practices (BMP) and Conservation Measures (CM).
Past DHS reports on environmental stewardship ultimately concluded that the positives of a border wall preventing foot traffic from illegal crossings, thereby preserving natural habitats and species, outlasted the negatives of construction.
Aspects of an ESP include factoring the biological and geographical conditions of the area, such as the vegetation and wildlife that would be impacted by construction efforts. Environmental stewardship also factors in cultural resources such as archaeological discoveries. (If artifacts are discovered, all work halts until an archaeologist clears officials to resume work).
The November 2020 ESP concerned 15 miles of fence replacement along the California border considered air quality; noise; land use, recreation, and aesthetics; geological resources and soils; groundwater; surface waters and other bodies of water; floodplains; vegetation; wildlife and aquatic resources; protected species and critical habitat; cultural resources; socioeconomics; and hazardous materials and waste.
Some of the ESP’s recommended BMP and CM included: wetting the soil to suppress dust, capping speed limits at 25 mph on unpaved roads, muffling equipment like generators, migratory bird surveillance and relocation, and cleaning of construction equipment (to prevent spread of non-native species).
Following completion of the border construction, DHS issues an Environmental Stewardship Summary Report (ESSR).
Another impediment for immediate border wall gap sealing comes from DHS obligations to engage with stakeholders.
Funding for the border wall gap closures will come from DHS fiscal year 2021 appropriations.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
by AZ Free Enterprise Club | Jul 16, 2022 | Opinion
By the Arizona Free Enterprise Club |
Last week, the Biden Administration officially filed a lawsuit against Arizona over HB2492, which bolsters safeguards to our voter registration process to require proof of citizenship ensuring only U.S. citizens are voting in our elections.
To many, it sounds absurd. Not HB2492, but the revelation that in Arizona, and in every state in the country, people are registering to vote and voting without ever providing proof of citizenship.
How many people are we talking about? In 2020, there were roughly 11,600 individuals in Arizona who voted in federal elections without ever having provide proof of citizenship. That’s up from under 2,000 just two years prior in the 2018 midterms. These numbers are alarming, but the exponential growth from just one election to the next is even more shocking.
>>> CONTINUE READING >>>
by Dr. Thomas Patterson | Jul 8, 2022 | Opinion
By Dr. Thomas Patterson |
If America has learned anything from foreign entanglements over the past century, surely it is this: enemy conflicts must be engaged only if our vital interests are at stake. A war worth fighting must have clear objectives and a path to victory.
Clearly in WWII, all options save winning were unthinkable. We did win, and the modern classical liberal order was created.
We had no such resolve in Vietnam. Worried about riling China, and with growing domestic programs to fund, we fought not to win but for containment. And so we lost to a determined foe. America was humiliated, forfeiting immense blood and treasure as well as our national self-confidence.
Meanwhile, the Cold War spanned 45 fretful years during which the world became more dangerous. Neither side could afford to fall behind in the nuclear arms race when Mutually Assured Destruction was our defense against annihilation.
Ronald Reagan’s idea of actually defeating the Evil Empire turned the tide. Massive arms superiority and strategic defense weaponry convinced the Soviets that future efforts were futile.
The Middle East wars were fought without particular strategic goals and no endgame. We seem to believe we could mitigate Islamist terrorism through nation building and intervention in centuries old inter-tribal conflicts. We finally beat a disgraceful retreat with little to show for our losses.
Yet these lessons of history seem lost on our current administration‘s response in Ukraine. We don’t want our proxy, Ukraine, to lose but we’re not committed to winning either.
The heroic Ukrainians have fought to a virtual standoff. Yet, as a result of our indecisiveness, the outcome remains in doubt.
The seminal question was: why get involved at all? Is the Russian aggression basically a regional dustup, like our Middle East debacle? Or does a hegemonically ambitious autocrat represent an existential threat, analogous to the prelude to WWII?
Most Americans seem to realize this conflict has implications far beyond the ancient Russian/Ukrainian grudges. If Russia successfully breaches Ukrainian sovereignty, it will be the end of the international rules-based order that has sustained general peace and prosperity since WWII. Moreover, if nuclear weapons or their threat are decisive, it will embolden rogue states everywhere, including China and Iran.
President Zelensky has pleaded many times for faster delivery of air defenses and anti-missile systems. Yet our aid to Ukraine has been halting and inadequate. Not until late April did the Biden administration announce it would ship 90 desperately needed howitzers.
When the US finally decided to provide Ukraine with MLR (multiple launch rocket) systems to defend against Russia’s unremitting air attacks, only MLRs with a 70 km range, not the 300 km range necessary to reach Russian targets, were provided.
Too little, too late. Ukraine’s foreign minister lamented that if Ukraine had received more weapons earlier the situation today would be “much different… much better.”
Meanwhile, the unimaginable human toll, the death and destruction of Ukraine, continues to mount. Last month, the U.N. development agency announced that if the war continues, an astounding 90% of Ukrainians would be at or below poverty levels.
According to the U.N. refugee agency, 13 million people have been displaced, which has serious political and military consequences. When Ukrainians are scattered, it makes unity more difficult and Russian control easier. A hollowed-out Ukraine also enables Russia to take more Ukrainian territory at war’s end.
U.S. hesitation to provide more robust help to Ukraine is based on the fear of escalation and possible nuclear war with Russia. Some have urged Ukraine into an armistice that involves territorial concessions.
But that wouldn’t stop the bear. Instead, it would incentivize further military incursions. Over-caution could actually increase the possibility of escalation.
Biden and NATO have repeatedly ruled out direct military involvement and nuclear deployment without getting any concessions in return. Our weakness sends a message to Russia and other aggressors that threatening nuclear weapons works to soften western resistance.
The free world must decide what it stands for and how to meet this moment. If we don’t thwart Russian ambitions now, it will likely get more dangerous in the future. Ukraine, for their survival and ours, deserves protection now.
Dr. Thomas Patterson, former Chairman of the Goldwater Institute, is a retired emergency physician. He served as an Arizona State senator for 10 years in the 1990s, and as Majority Leader from 93-96. He is the author of Arizona’s original charter schools bill.
