Nasir Ahmed Tawhedi, the Afghan refugee charged last week in Oklahoma with plotting an Election Day terror massacre was previously flagged by U.S. Customs Border and Protection this summer, weeks before his arrest, during a re-evaluation of his 2021 entry into the country, immigration records reviewed by Just the News show.
Read MoreTag: border security
Commentary: Kamala Harris’ Tough Border Talk Conceals Radical Immigration Plan
Since Kamala Harris unseated President Joe Biden to become the Democratic presidential nominee, her campaign has spent the last few weeks trying to distance herself from the failed policies of the current administration where she holds the title of vice president and was dubbed “Border Czar.”
Despite being part of the administration responsible for an unprecedented 10 million (and counting) encounters of illegal aliens at our borders and at least 2 million “gotaways” who evaded the Border Patrol, our televisions have been bombarded for weeks with ads claiming that a President Harris will be tough on the border.
Read MoreKamala Harris Spent Her Senate Career Opposing Border Security
Vice President Kamala Harris spent years in the Senate opposing immigration enforcement measures before she ascended to the White House, a review of her record shows.
Read MoreCommentary: Border Security Popular as Most Americans Support Deportation and Curbing Asylum Seeking at Border
Americans have had enough with the Open Borders agenda, and polls show a vast spoke in the share of Americans supporting the deportation of illegals and a reduction in asylum processing along the border. In other words, Americans now favor significantly stricter immigration policy than just a few years ago – including a majority of independents, Hispanics, and college-educated Americans.
The latest YouGov survey shows Americans would favor a deportation program to deport all illegal immigrants by a broad 24-point margin, or 62 percent to 38 percent. This represents a vast spike in the share of Americans favoring a deportation effort compared to just two months ago.
Read MoreTrump Calls Border Crisis ‘Biden invasion’
Former President Donald Trump on Thursday said the border crisis is a “a Joe Biden invasion. This is a Biden invasion.”
He met with Gov. Greg Abbott in Eagle Pass, Texas, to tour a new military base established through Abbott’s border security mission, Operation Lone Star. “What they showed me is nothing less than incredible. This is a military operation. This is like a war,” he said.
Read MoreNew Bill Would Give States Standing to Sue Federal Government
A new bill has been filed to give state attorneys general greater authority and legal standing to sue the federal government when it fails to enforce federal immigration law established by Congress.
Read MoreOperation Lone Star Border Security Funding Totals More than Multiple State Budgets
The Texas legislature has allocated more than $11.6 billion to border security efforts over a four-year period, the most in state history.
It totals more than multiple state fiscal year budgets and more than what the Trump administration allocated to federal border security efforts in Texas.
Read MoreSenate Border Security Bill Offers Potential Massive Payday to Defense Industrial Complex
The Senate border security bill offers a massive payout of potentially close to $50 billion to the U.S. defense industry in replenishing weapons stocks sent to Ukraine, Taiwan and Israel as security assistance.
Read MoreMulti-State Coalition of Attorneys General Sides with Texas in Battle Against Biden in New Push to Secure the Border
A coalition of state attorneys general sent a letter Monday to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas backing Texas in its border battle with the Biden administration.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott defied the Biden administration last week, making clear he would continue to put up concertina wire fencing at the southern border to help stop the flow of illegal immigration, which has soared since Biden took office.
Read MoreThe Senate Leaves Behind a Pile of Unfinished Business as It Heads Home for the Holidays
The Senate has adjourned for the remainder of the year after failing to negotiate a deal to reform border security in exchange for aid to Ukraine and pass appropriations bills to fund the government.
Republicans in Congress have refused to support a $60 billion aid package to Ukraine during its war against Russia, requested by President Joe Biden unless Senate Democrats permit the passage of conservative border security priorities. After convening the Senate during its holiday recess on Monday, to give time for more negotiations, the Senate adjourned on Wednesday night for the remainder of the year without reaching a compromise, as well as without passing appropriations bills submitted by the House of Representatives to fund the government and a bipartisan railway safety bill.
Read MoreFamily Units Trying to Enter U.S. Illegally Spiking Due to Biden Rule, Experts Say
The record number of “family units” attempting to cross into the U.S. at the border hit a record high at 91,000 in August, which immigration policy experts say was entirely predictable due to a Biden administration rule change.
August is now the highest month this year for overall U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) migrant encounters, based on a report of preliminary agency data.
Read MoreIllegal Migrants from Mexico Assault Northern Border Agent, Official Says
Three illegal migrants from Mexico assaulted a Border Patrol agent along the northern border on Aug. 20, according to an Instagram post from Swanton sector Chief Robert Garcia.
The three illegal migrants crossed the northern border from Canada illegally before assaulting the agent near Churubusco, New York, according to Garcia’s post. Border Patrol agents in the Swanton sector, which includes areas of New York, Vermont and New Hampshire have made more than 4,900 arrests of illegal migrants from 68 countries between October 2022 and July, amounting to more apprehensions than the last eight years combined in the region.
Read MoreVictor Davis Hanson Commentary: Illegal Immigration and Western Spiritual Sickness
The usual suspects have weighed in on recent belated efforts to enforce U.S. immigration laws.
Our now bankrupt media, the corrupt government of Mexico, and the Diversity/Equity/Inclusion apparat have damned a series of laws recently passed by the Florida legislature and signed by Governor Ron DeSantis that enforce existing federal immigration laws.
Read MoreMore Than 100 Known, Suspected Terrorists Apprehended at Southern Border Fiscal Year to Date
An Afghan national on the federal Terrorist Screening Dataset (TSDS) was apprehended attempting to enter the U.S. illegally near the Otay Mesa Port of Entry in San Diego, California.
The TSDS is the federal government’s database that includes sensitive information about terrorist identities. It originated as a consolidated terrorist watch list “to house information on known or suspected terrorists (KSTs) but has evolved over the last decade to include additional individuals who represent a potential threat to the United States, including known affiliates of watch listed individuals,” CBP states.
Read MoreNearly 9 in 10 in New Poll Hold Feds Responsible for Border Crisis, Most Expect States to Fix
Almost 87 percent of Americans blame the federal government for the border crisis, according to a new poll conducted by the Trafalgar Group for Convention of States Action.
“With local and state government law enforcement resources overwhelmed by the large increase in illegal immigrants and asylum seekers needing assistance and increased drug cartel activity,” respondents were prompted, “do you believe it is the responsibility of states or the Federal government to handle these increased costs at the southern border?”
Read MoreFlorida Attorney General Calls on Congress to Impeach DHS Secretary Mayorkas
Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody is urging Congress to “begin impeachment proceedings immediately” of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. She cites several reasons to justify her request, including claiming he’s violated federal law, lied multiple times under oath before Congress, and is endangering American lives.
In a letter addressed to five Republican congressional leaders Tuesday, she urged them “to act to protect the American people and impeach Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. Secretary Mayorkas is directly responsible, and his actions have caused our unprecedented border crisis.”
Read MoreCommentary: The Border Isn’t Just a Crisis, It’s Also a Grift
There was a time not long ago when Americans would read news stories about obscene levels of corruption in other countries and feel justified in a sense of superiority. Things might not be perfect here, but at least we weren’t that bad. No more. We have now reached the point here where it is that bad. We have surrendered the right to look down our noses at any other country.
One of the most glaring examples of this today can be found in the crisis raging at the U.S.-Mexico border. There have been endless videos of hordes of migrants traversing the Rio Grande and walking into the United States, but that is just a part of the total picture.
Border: 205,000 Apprehensions, Gotaways in February as Gotaways Increase in West
More than 205,000 foreign nationals were apprehended or reported as gotaways after illegally entering the southwest border in February, according to preliminary data obtained by The Center Square from a U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agent. The agent provided the information on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation; it only includes Border Patrol data and excludes Office of Field Operations data.
Read MoreTexas Sheriff: We’re Experiencing ‘Silent Invasion’ of Military Age Men
What’s happening at the southern U.S. border with Mexico is in fact an invasion, Kinney County Sheriff Brad Coe says.
“We’re experiencing a silent invasion of military age men,” Coe told The Center Square when describing what his deputies have been increasingly facing over the past two years.
Read MoreNearly 216,000 Apprehended, Gotaways Reported of Illegal Entries at Southern Border in January
At least 156,274 people illegally entered the U.S. in January, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data published on Friday, down 40% from 251,978 in December 2022, it says. The data excludes gotaway numbers referring to those who are known and reported to illegally enter between ports of entry, evade capture by law enforcement, and don’t return to Mexico or Canada.
Read MoreRepublican Representative Introduces Sweeping Border Security Package to Stop Record Illegal Immigration
Republican South Carolina Rep. Jeff Duncan introduced a series of bills Thursday to secure the southern border and crack down on illegal immigration.
The package includes six bills introduced in the last Congress that seek to ban access to Social Security for illegal immigrants, allow authorities to deport illegal immigrants who are listed on the national terrorism database, permit funds from the cartels to be used to build a border wall, revoke passports from members of foreign terrorist groups, punish illegal immigrants who overstay visas and make sanctuary cities ineligible for federal funding, according legislation obtained by the DCNF. Duncan’s plan follows U.S. Custom and Border Protection’s (CBP) highest month on record for migrant encounters, which topped more than 250,000 in December.
Read MoreWyoming Bill Would Allocate Resources to Fund Border Wall
Republican lawmakers in Wyoming are advancing legislation that would appropriate more than $5 million toward border security efforts in Texas, Arizona and Florida.
SF0166, “Border wall and sanctuary city transport,” was filed by Republican state Sen. Larry Hicks, with Sens. Dave Kinskey, John Kolb and Cheri Steinmetz cosponsoring. Republican state Reps. John Bear, Donald Burkhart, Mark Jennings, and Ember Oakley filed the House companion bill.
Read MoreTexas Gov. Greg Abbott Appoints State’s First ‘Border Czar’
Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott appointed his state’s first “border czar,” during a news conference in San Benito, Texas, Monday.
Read MoreVictor Davis Hanson Commentary: The 10 Steps to Save America
Most Americans know something has gone terribly wrong—and very abruptly—with the United States. They are certain that our wounds are almost all self-inflicted. The current pathologies are not a result of a natural disaster, an exhaustion of natural resources, plagues, or an existential war.
Crushing national debt and annual deficits, spiraling food and fuel costs amid “normal” seven-percent-plus annual inflation, bread-and-circuses entitlements, a nonexistent border, a resurgence of racial tribalism, pandemic violent criminality, and humiliation abroad—all these pathologies are easily cited as symptoms of a sick patient. Our crises are not as the Left maintains—a nine-person Supreme Court, the Electoral College, or the filibuster—all distractions from existential problems the Left largely created.
Read MoreSupreme Court Delays End of Title 42 Immigration Rule
The Supreme Court on Monday delayed the termination of the Title 42 immigration rule that was set to expire this week.
Chief Justice John Roberts issued the temporary hold in response to an appeal from Republican-led states seeking to keep the order in place, according to NBC News. Roberts gave the Department of Homeland Security, which had sought to end the order until 5 p.m. on Tuesday to respond to the Republican appeal, per the New York Post.
Read MoreBiden Administration Removed 71 Percent Fewer Criminal Aliens vs. Comparable Period under Trump
Over its first nine months, the Biden administration removed 71% fewer locally arrested criminal aliens than were deported during a comparable period in 2019 under Donald Trump, according to a new study of state and local statistics — despite record illegal immigration numbers.
Read MoreTop Border Official Resigns Under Pressure After Historic Bad Year of Illegal Migration
U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Chris Magnus resigned Saturday night under pressure from President Biden and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, vacating a crucial post just two months before a new Congress is seated.
The White House announced the departure just days after Magnus was ordered to resign or be fired. He initially resisted but bent on Saturday.
Read MoreCommentary: America Needs to Take Immigration 101
If there’s one thing our corporate media loves as much as hyping an upcoming election, it is conducting a days-long postmortem on that election: identifying the winners and losers, who dropped the ball and who is “The Next Big Thing.” Yet, beneath the surface of personality-driven analysis, one can find data that reveals much about what Americans see as the nation’s biggest problems.
An NBC News exit poll found that the biggest issues to voters, in order of importance, were: inflation, abortion, crime, gun policy, and immigration. After the last two years of Biden-fueled destruction of our border, the idea that immigration barely registers as the fifth-most important issue to voters should be disturbing.
Read MoreVictor Davis Hanson Commentary: The Exasperated American
A large majority of Americans now have no confidence in Joe Biden and his administration, which often polls below 40 percent, with negatives nearing 60 percent.
Despite the 15-month catastrophe of his regime, the level of his own unpopularity remains understandable but still remarkable. After all, in 2020 voters already knew well of his cognitive deficits and the radicalism of his agenda. They saw both clearly starting in 2019 and during the 2020 Democratic primaries, the primary debates, and the general election.
So what did Biden’s voters imagine would happen when a cognitively challenged president, controlled by hard-Left subordinates, entered office — other than what he has done?
Read MoreGubernatorial Candidate Kari Lake Vows to Shoot Mexican Drug Cartel Drones, Blow Up Drug Tunnels with ‘Defend Arizona’ Plan
Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake told The Georgia Star News she plans to secure the southern border of the United States with her “Defend Arizona” policy, which includes the destruction of drug tunnels and surveillance drones used by Mexican drug cartels. The Republican frontrunner traveled to Georgia on Thursday to support David Perdue in his bid to upset incumbent governor Brian Kemp.
“When we discover drug tunnels, we’re going to blow them up. We’re not just going to pour a little bit of cement in where they can easily jackhammer that out and start running drugs again,” Lake said.
Read MoreFlorida U.S. Rep. Gaetz Blasts DHS Sec. Mayorkas at Congressional Hearing
Florida Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz blasted Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas at a recent House Judiciary Committee hearing on border security.
In his line of questioning, Gaetz asked Mayorkas about the removal process of 1.2 million people who are in the U.S. illegally who’ve been given deportation orders by judges and haven’t been removed.
Read MoreMexican Border Arrests Hit Record High in 2021, Data Show
Arrests at the U.S./Mexican border reached a new high last year, driven by a surge in attempted crossings into the United States in the first year of the Biden administration.
Border agents recorded just under 2 million arrests in 2021, data released from a lawsuit against the Biden administration showed this week.
Read MoreGrowing Number Inside GOP Stir to Impeach Biden in 2023 over Border Insecurity
Rep. Lance Gooden, a Texas Republican whose district has been overrun by the surge in illegal immigration, says the border insecurity that Joe Biden unleashed isn’t just impacting border states. It’s spreading to the interior of the country, and with it the temptation to impeach the president if Republicans gain control of Congress next year.
“I really believe that impeachment could be on the table,” Gooden told Just the News in a recent interview. “And I would support that, certainly.”
Read MoreBiden Administration Is Implementing Trump’s Remain in Mexico Policy After Fighting It
The Biden administration is returning migrants in small numbers to Mexico as it rolls out the resumption of the Trump-era “Remain in Mexico” policy, also known as the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), it fought for months to end.
The policy requires border officials to return asylum seekers to stay in Mexico while waiting for immigration court hearings.
Read MoreReport: More Than 50,000 Illegal Immigrants Released into U.S. Don’t Show for Court Hearings
More than 50,000 illegal immigrants released into the U.S. by Immigration and Customs Enforcement failed to report to their deportation proceedings during a five-month period analyzed last year, according to a report provided by the Department of Homeland Security to U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisconsin. The report also states that ICE doesn’t have court information on more than 40,000 individuals it’s supposed to prosecute.
“Between March and August 2021, as a result of the Biden Administration’s failed border policies, over 270,000 illegal aliens have been dispersed into the United States with little chance for removal,” Johnson said in an announcement accompanying the report, which didn’t include data from the other seven months of the year.
Read MoreBorder Patrol Agents Seize Record Amount of Drugs in November, Apprehensions Also Increase
U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers apprehended more people in November than October and confiscated a record amount of drugs last month, according to its latest operational report.
In November at the southern border, encounters with unaccompanied minors increased by 9% from October, with family units by 5%, and with single adults also by 5%.
Read MoreOperation Lone Star Border Security Efforts Get Additional $38.4 Million In Funding
An additional $38.4 million of Texas taxpayer money has been allocated to fund border security efforts at the Texas-Mexico border. It’s money Texas shouldn’t have to spend, Gov. Greg Abbott said, but is because of President Joe Biden’s open border policies that have ushered into the state rampant trafficking of drugs, people and crime.
The money will provide additional funding for Operation Lone Star, which Abbott launched in March and go towards law enforcement, jail operations, and court administration costs. It brings the total PSO funding for Operation Lone Star to $74 million to date designed to assist border cities and counties.
Read MoreArizona Seizes Record Amount of Fentanyl, Now Cited as Leading Cause of Death of Young Americans
Authorities in Arizona seized $9 million worth of fentanyl pills in the state’s largest bust of the illicit drug – enough, they said, to kill half the population of Arizona.
The bust comes after a nonprofit group cites fentanyl as the leading cause of death among Americans between the age of 18 and 45. Arizona and Texas attorneys general and governors vowed to fight what they called the “lawlessness of the Biden administration,” which they argue is enabling fentanyl to be brought into the U.S. through its open border policies.
Read MoreA Firsthand Look into Texas’ ‘Operation Lone Star’
RIO GRANDE VALLEY — The alarm clock sounded at 3 a.m. local time. It was dark and the skies were clear from the storm that had just passed. Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) Lt. Craig Cummings, who was driving me around the valley, joked that we may face a more dangerous situation than the border had in store for us because of the tornado-like winds and torrential downpour that had swept through the area just hours before.
We decided the early morning would be the best time to capture suspected human smuggling attempts. Texas troopers with DPS supporting Operation Lone Star, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott’s initiative to combat nefarious activity from entering his state, dotted the roads making their presence known.
Read MoreICE to Send Documents to 78,000 Illegal Migrants Who Were Released into U.S. Without Court Dates
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials announced a plan to send court documents to 78,000 illegal migrants who were released into the U.S. after crossing the southern border this year, CBS News reported on Tuesday.
The documents describe court hearings where migrants can make their cases to stay in the country to an immigration judge, according to CBS News. The documents will include notices to appear and other information typically issued during regular processing.
Read MoreDHS Sec. Says Biden’s Plan Is ‘Working,’ and Has Led to ‘a Drop in the Number of Encounters at the U.S. Border’
During a Senate hearing Tuesday, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas claimed the Biden Administration’s border policies are “working,” and have led to a drop of encounters at the U.S.-Mexico border.
Mayorkas was responding to Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), who was grilling the DHS chief about the ongoing surge of illegal immigrants at the border during a Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing on “Threats to the Homeland.”
Read MoreMemo Shows Border Patrol Is Experiencing ‘Critical Shortages’ of Frontline Personnel
An internal memo within U.S. Customs and Border Protection shows that agency leaders are warning of a major shortage of personnel amid a surge of immigration activity at the country’s southern border.
The memo, dispatched on Sept. 17 and obtained by Just the News via a source, warns that Border Patrol “continues to experience critical shortages of frontline personnel due to the rising encounters of individuals attempting to enter the United States without proper authorization along the Southwest Border.”
Read MoreBiden Administration Funds New Project to Bolster Tajik-Afghan Border, Abandons U.S. Border Wall
While the Biden administration halted construction of the border wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, the United States is funding border security efforts for Tajikistan, a former Soviet republic trying to keep Afghan insurgents and refugees out.
One day after the Biden administration’s Aug. 31 deadline to withdraw from Afghanistan, the U.S. Embassy in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, announced that it had launched a project to construct new facilities for a Border Guard Detachment in Ayvoj, along the Tajik-Afghan-Uzbek border.
Read MoreNearly 8,700 Criminals Arrested at Southern Border in Past 10 Months, Including Repeat Sex Offenders
Over the past 10 months, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents have arrested 8,691 known criminals who have entered the U.S. illegally through the southern border. Combined, they have committed 12,685 crimes in the U.S., according to federal data.
Because Border Patrol agents do not have access to criminal records from other countries, they rely on information reported in the National Crime Information Center database. Many individuals arrested by Border Patrol are registered sex offenders who were previously convicted and served time in U.S. prisons. They were released and deported only to reenter the U.S. again illegally this year.
Read MoreU.S. Vetting Afghan Refugees with Biometrics but Uncertain of Some Identities, Memos Show
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency is processing airlifted Afghan refugees in locations like Germany, Bahrain and Qatar before sending them to the Washington D.C.-area Dulles International airport, using biometrics when possible to identify those without official travel papers, according to internal memos obtained by Just the News.
The memos acknowledge all refugees are being screened for COVID-19 after they arrive in the United States, and some may be arriving without their identities ascertained.
Read MoreBiden Admin Is Reportedly Flying Migrants to a West Texas Town Before Releasing Them
The Biden administration is reportedly flying migrants to Abilene, Texas, before releasing them to board other flights with destinations around the U.S., KTAB News reported Thursday.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has reportedly flown migrants to the Abilene Regional Airport in unmarked planes before loading them onto buses on at least two occasions this month, according to KTAB. Migrants were later recorded disembarking the same buses and boarding flights to several U.S. cities.
Read MoreCommentary: Biden’s Open Borders Drain America’s Resources
Rarely is the sequence of cause and effect so clear. The current surge of migrants at our southern border is the direct result of the Biden administration eliminating the Trump rules that had once tamed the flow. Gone are the “safe third country” agreements that helped migrants apply for asylum in countries through which they had already traveled. Gone is the “remain in Mexico” policy that ensured a mere application for asylum would not be a free ticket into the United States. At the same time, Obama-era “catch and release” for minors and family units has made a comeback. As word has spread of this lax enforcement, more and more migrants throughout the world are attempting the journey.
Read MoreArizona Rep. Biggs Will File Articles of Impeachment Against Department of Homeland Security Secretary
An Arizona congressman said that he will file articles of impeachment against Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas “in the coming weeks.”
Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ-05) said the following in a statement on his website:
Read MoreReport: Border Officials Encountered 21-Year Record High Number of Migrants in July
Border officials encountered an estimated 210,000 migrants at the southern border in July, the highest monthly total since 2000, the Associated Press reported Tuesday.
Preliminary government data reportedly shows border officials encountered some 19,000 unaccompanied migrant minors, a record high from previous months including just over 18,800 in March, Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary for Border and Immigration Policy David Shahoulian said, the AP reported.
Read MoreCDC Extends Trump-Era Public Health Order Allowing Border Officials to Expel Most Migrants
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention extended the Trump-era public health order allowing border officials to expel most migrants back to Mexico or Canada, the agency announced Monday.
The regulation, known as Title 42, temporarily prohibits noncitizens from entering the U.S. through Canada or Mexico regardless of their port of origin in an effort to stop the spread of COVID-19 into the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Unaccompanied migrants minors were exempt from the order.
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