by Daniel Stefanski | Mar 22, 2024 | News
By Daniel Stefanski |
A controversial Texas border security bill experienced major whiplash on Tuesday in federal court.
In a shocking development for the legal situation of SB 4, a majority of Justices at the Supreme Court of the United States lifted its administrative stay of the Texas law after it had twice paused enforcement. The pending case and actions before the nation’s high court occurred after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit had reversed a District Court decision to issue a preliminary injunction for the state border law, allowing the new policy to temporarily go into effect.
SB 4 was approved by the Texas Legislature in November 2023 and signed in December 2023. According to the bill summary, SB 4 would “amend the Penal Code to make it a Class B misdemeanor offense for a person who is an alien to enter or attempt to enter Texas directly from a foreign nation at any location other than a lawful port of entry;” and it would also “make it an offense for a person who is an alien to enter, attempt to enter, or be found in Texas after the person has been denied admission to or excluded, deported, or removed from the United States or has departed from the United States while an order of exclusion, deportation, or removal is outstanding.”
However, hours after the U.S. Supreme Court issued its surprising order, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals temporarily blocked the Texas law, pending a decision on the merits of the case. The federal appeals court considered arguments from both sides on Wednesday, making an expedited opinion extremely likely on the enforceability of the law.
Before the late-night action at the Fifth Circuit, Arizona legislative Republicans reacted to the news from the Supreme Court. Senate President Warren Petersen said, “The Arizona Governor has vetoed legislation that would have given Arizona’s law enforcement the ability to protect our citizens from the invasion occurring at the southern border. The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to allow Texas’ S.B.4 to go into effect shows that the Governor’s veto was rash and hasty. She will soon have the opportunity to do the right thing, as we will give her another chance to sign this bill into law to protect Arizonans from border-related crimes.”
Senator Janae Shamp also released a statement after the court decision, focusing on her ongoing efforts to enact the Arizona Border Invasion Act into law. Shamp’s bill was passed by both chambers of the Arizona Legislature earlier this month but fell victim to the first veto this session from Democrat Governor Katie Hobbs. The first-term lawmaker wrote, “While Joe Biden continues to neglect the national security crisis of this border invasion that’s allowing deadly fentanyl, terrorists, human smugglers, child sex traffickers, rapists, murderers, and other dangerous criminals to forever change our communities and the lives of Arizonans, state legislatures across the country are rightfully overriding the failures of his administration and Arizona is no different. We are urging Hobbs to not fail Arizonans again, and to sign our legislation when it hits her desk.”
State Representative Austin Smith echoed Shamp’s comments, calling on Hobbs to join legislative Republicans in addressing the border crisis. He stated, “The states can defend their borders. Governor Hobbs sign the border bills, end this madness and dangerous influx of illegals coming to Arizona. Do your job and defend the state.”
Other border related bills are currently making their way through the Arizona Legislature. Governor Hobbs is expected to oppose all Republican efforts to mitigate the border crisis from the state level.
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
by Corinne Murdock | Mar 10, 2024 | News
By Corinne Murdock |
The president of the National Border Patrol Council (NBPC), Brandon Judd, says that President Joe Biden’s policies effectively forced their support of the border bill.
Judd told The Arizona Daily Independent that Biden’s State of the Union (SOTU) was a “slap in the face” that didn’t adequately acknowledge the border crisis. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) invited Judd as her guest to the SOTU, though Judd didn’t join her.
“The reason we support the border bill is because President Biden put us in a position where we have to accept anything,” said Judd.
The bill referenced by Judd was the $118 billion foreign aid bill — formed by Sinema alongside Sens. James Lankford (R-OK) and Chris Murphy (D-CT) — which contained marginal provisions for border security, with a majority set aside for Ukraine and other nations.
However, Judd commended Sinema’s advocacy for more border security in a press release issued by Sinema ahead of the SOTU.
“[Sinema] has advocated for border security in all forms whether it be at the Ports of Entry or between. She has listened to the voices of the people doing their best to protect this great nation,” said Judd.
Sinema announced earlier this week that she wouldn’t be seeking reelection. The development wasn’t all too surprising, given that she had failed to file her statement of interest to run.
Another representative of the border crisis, president of an NBPC local in New York and agent Brandon Budlong, was invited to the SOTU.
Budlong said in a House GOP video series critiquing the Biden administration that border agents are unable to do what “they’re meant to do,” turning away illegal immigrants, and instead “streamlining millions” of illegal immigrants into the country.
“Hearing the news about Laken Riley’s death was extremely frustrating for me,” said Budlong. “It makes you almost feel like you failed at your job, even though you did everything that you could with the policies in place. This administration created this crisis and they can fix it, but they refuse to do so.”
Riley was a 22-year-old nursing student murdered during her morning jog on the University of Georgia campus last month. The accused murderer, 26-year-old Jose Antonio Ibarra, came to the U.S. illegally from Venezuela in September 2022 near El Paso, Texas. Ibarra received parole due to ICE’s inability to lodge a detainer in a timely manner, effectively benefitting from the catch and release that many other illegal immigrants have enjoyed throughout the Biden administration.
In his short stint in the U.S., Ibarra was arrested in New York last September for acting in a manner to injure a minor and a driving license violation. Ibarra had been living in a taxpayer-funded shelter. Ibarra left the state shortly after his NYC arrest for Georgia.
The New York Post reported on Friday that Ibarra was permitted entry despite documented ties to Teen de Aragua (TdA), a Venezuelan gang operating in New York and Georgia, as well as Texas, Illinois, and Florida. The Post discovered that Department of Homeland Security (DHS) internal documents had Ibarra’s name listed as belonging to TdA.
In a motion filed earlier this week, federal authorities alleged that Ibarra’s brother, Diego, has ties to the same gang.
Diego was arrested shortly after his brother for possession of a fake green card; he had cut off an ankle monitor to evade authorities. Diego also had an arrest record. He was arrested three times by Athens, Georgia law enforcement for a DUI and driving without a license, shoplifting, and failure to appear in court.
The House passed the Laken Riley Act, an immigration bill requiring federal detention of migrants charged with burglary or theft, on Thursday.
Riley did receive a mention by Biden during his SOTU, though only after an outburst during his speech by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA-14) demanded that Biden “say her name.” Biden did say Riley’s name, though he mispronounced it as “Lincoln Riley.” The president then downplayed her death by contrasting it with the number of other deaths that occur every day under illegal immigrants.
“Lincoln — Lincoln Riley, an innocent young woman who was killed by an illegal,” said Biden. “That’s right, but how many of the thousands of people [are] being killed by illegals?”
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
by Corinne Murdock | Feb 9, 2024 | News
By Corinne Murdock |
Congressional candidate Kirsten Engel has kept quiet on the ongoing conflict over the border crisis and accountability for Biden administration leadership.
Engel hasn’t addressed the recent actions on the $118 billion border bill, nor did she respond to an AZ Free News inquiry concerning the attempted impeachment of Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
Following the House rejection of a motion to impeach Mayorkas, Senate Republicans blocked the border bill from advancing on Wednesday. House GOP leadership say that they will make another attempt at impeaching Mayorkas.
As reported earlier this week, a majority of the funding in the bill goes to Ukraine: $60 billion, compared to $20 billion for the border. The remainder of the funds were apportioned for humanitarian aid, overseas projects, the Indo-Pacific, and the Red Sea conflict.
This week, Engel opted to issue public remarks only on her attendance at an annual Democratic dinner.
During her last run in 2022, Engel sided with a more lenient approach to border security that included the end of Title 42 and rejection of the characterization of the state of the border as a crisis.
It appears that Engel’s campaign has remained similar on the issues this time around. Her approach to the border crisis includes the Biden administration mantra of “secure, fair, orderly, and humane” with a focus on increasing pathways to citizenship, and ignores the illegal migration outside the legal ports of entry, rather focusing on increasing resources at those legal ports of entry.
In December, Engel told voters that border security efforts should be focused on legal ports of entry to mitigate drug and human trafficking.
Engel last addressed the border bill, indirectly, last month. She leveled criticism against her opponent for supporting House GOP leadership’s stance that the border bill wasn’t a valid solution to the ongoing crisis.
“This is further proof that Republicans want to play politics with this issue, rather than solve it,” said Engel.
Engel also blamed Republicans in December for the ever-worsening border crisis, and the then-shutdown of the Lukeville Port of Entry. The closure was roundly condemned by both Democratic and Republican leadership. The Biden administration shuttered the port to reassign agents elsewhere along the border to process illegal immigrants.
“The situation at the border is getting worse by the day. One port of entry has already been shut down, tens of thousands of asylum-seekers have nowhere to go, and our border communities have been left to deal with the situation on their own,” said Engel. “People are tired of dysfunction in Congress and they know who to blame: Juan Ciscomani and Congressional Republicans.”
In September, Engel expressed frustration that illegal immigrants were deposited into communities due to full processing facilities, calling the practice “callous” and “dangerous.” Engel blamed Washington lawmakers for the nonstop inundation of illegal immigrants.
“This type of callous treatment by CBE of our border communities and migrants is as alarming as it is dangerous,” said Engel. “We’re reminded nearly everyday of just how badly Washington has failed us at the border.”
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
