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Border Crisis Tag

The Department of Homeland Security trumped the Environmental Protection Agency, waiving numerous rules that could have delayed the construction of the border wall between the United States and Mexico with lawsuits or studies.
Laws intended to protect endangered species and habitat at the border by requiring environmental impact reports can be circumvented by a wavier issued by the department, it said. The announcement was only tied to the San Diego area.

Thirty-eight people, eight of whom were deceased, were found in the back of an 18-wheeler in a San Antonio Walmart parking lot.  Temperatures reaching as high as 100 degrees and a lack of water are believed to have been the cause of the deaths. Authorities are calling it a "horrific" human trafficking case involving the smuggling of illegal aliens across the porous Southern border.  San Antonio is suing Texas Governor Gregg Abbott over the state's law banning sanctuary cities. Fox News reports:
Eight people were found dead Sunday morning inside a sweltering 18-wheeler parked outside of a San Antonio Walmart in what police called a horrific human trafficking case.

Obama, dubbed "the food stamp president," presided over an alarming increase in the number of people on food stamps:  as of 2013, there was a 70% increase from 2008 in the number of people on food stamps. Now it appears that illegal aliens, as well as legal aliens and those illegals who head households that include legal aliens, are cancelling their SNAP benefits because of their perception that being on food stamps will either draw the attention of ICE or impair their chance of becoming U. S. citizens. The Washington Post reports:
In the two months since President Trump’s inauguration, food banks and hunger advocates around the country have noted a decline in the number of eligible immigrants applying for SNAP — and an uptick in immigrants seeking to withdraw from the program.

With German Chancellor Angela Merkel threatening U.K. with tough trade negotiations -- or ‘hard Brexit, -- for daring to leave the E.U., the Trump presidency has come at a very opportune time for the beleaguered British government. President-elect Donald Trump's proposed U.S.-U.K. trade deal could destroy EU's designs, Professor Ted Malloch said, the man tapped to be the next U.S. ambassador to the E.U. in the Trump administration while talking to the British newspaper Daily Express. Malloch, who is reportedly being vetted by the presidential transition team, was optimistic about a bilateral trade agreement once U.K. formally leaves the union. "I would hope on the day Britain triggers Article 50 [formal notification of withdrawal from the E.U.], Mrs. May will be able to announce we’ve just started discussions with the United States – an even larger market for free trade," Malloch said.

Human smugglers are using President-elect Trump's election victory to drum up business, telling people that they better hurry up and get into the U. S. before Trump takes office and puts a stop to illegal immigration.  Combined with individual and family decisions to sneak across the border into our country, this sales pitch has led to a massive influx of illegal aliens flooding across our southern border. The Orlando Sentinel reports:
Along the route through Mexico, no one was really sure how to say Trump's name. Smugglers called him "El Malo" (the bad one) or "El Feo" (the ugly one) and told the migrants they had better hurry north before his wall went up. . . . . By winning the election, Trump may have inadvertently made his job even harder. His plans have become a selling point for the smugglers urging people to cross the border before a wall goes up, according to migrants and officials in the United States and Mexico. Others were hoping Clinton would win and offer them some form of blanket amnesty, according to Border Patrol agents.

While everyone focuses on the presidential election, Judicial Watch reports that the number of "family units' entering the U. S. via Mexico has doubled, and unaccompanied minors entering are up by 52%. Judicial Watch reports:
While the nation is absorbed with presidential election theatrics, the Obama administration continues letting huge amounts of illegal immigrants to pour in through the southern border and the latest figures released by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) are incredibly chilling. The number of family units apprehended by the U.S. Border Patrol in the first 11 months of fiscal year 2016 nearly doubled from the previous year, according to updated information released by the agency. The majority of these illegal border crossers will remain in the country under Obama’s special refugee and family reunification programs.

If opinion polls are any indication, Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel is heading for a humiliating electoral defeat in own home state. On Sunday, the voters in the eastern German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, which includes Chancellor Merkel’s home constituency of Rügen, will be electing a new state assembly. The result of the state election could seal the political fate of Chancellor Merkel who has not given up her hopes of running for a 4th term. Having been at the helm of affairs in Germany for over 12 years, Merkel has not ruled out running for yet another term, but has been ducking questions about her political future in recent weeks. A devastating defeat, like the one being predicted by the pollsters, could finally put an end to her ambitions.

Judicial Watch reports that a private security firm has been contracted by the U. S. government to transfer illegal aliens away from the southern U. S. border and to release them away from the border. Judicial Watch reports:
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is quietly transporting illegal immigrants from the Mexican border to Phoenix and releasing them without proper processing or issuing court appearance documents, Border Patrol sources tell Judicial Watch. The government classifies them as Other Than Mexican (OTM) and this week around 35 were transferred 116 miles north from Tucson to a Phoenix bus station where they went their separate way. Judicial Watch was present when one of the white vans carrying a group of OTMs arrived at the Phoenix Greyhound station on Buckeye Road [see featured image above].

At a time when a growing number of Americans are becoming more concerned about illegal immigration and border security, wouldn't it make perfect sense for the government to put a sanctuary city advocate in charge of our border? When we told them we we care about jobs and the economy, they gave us Obamacare. When we expressed concern about terrorism, they told us climate change was a bigger threat. Naturally, our concerns about immigration warrant a border chief who doesn't believe in enforcing immigration law. William La Jeunesse of FOX News provides this stunning report:
Sources: Vocal supporter of sanctuary cities on short list to be next head of Border Patrol A former San Francisco police chief and vocal supporter of a sanctuary cities policy is on a short list of candidates to become the new chief of the Border Patrol, according to sources.

In no small part because this administration seems to dish up scandal and outrage on a seemingly weekly basis, the Fast and Furious scandal has yet to be fully investigated or resolved.  After Eric Holder cleared Eric Holder of any wrong-doing, and the mainstream media outlets began reporting, erroneously, that Fast and Furious was the same program that began under President Bush as Project Gunrunner, the story sort of faded from the public eye. Apparently intended by the Obama administration to, at least in part, serve as a rationale for more gun control regulations in the U.S., Operation Fast in Furious is back in this news. Last week, it was reported that the Garland, Texas terrorist, for whose acts ISIS claimed credit, purchased a gun through a Fast and Furious gun shop in 2010. And this week, we learn that the man charged in the murder of Border Patrol agent Brian Terry has received a plea deal from the U. S. government.  KVOA in Tuscon reports:
One of the men charged in the murder of U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry pleaded guilty to one count of murder, Monday morning. Once a potential candidate for the death penalty after the murder of the agent, the drawn up plea deal now states that the U.S. and the defendant will ask for 360 months imprisonment, with credit for time served since his arrest in October 2012.

With illegal immigration and sanctuary cities a topic of hot debate, it's interesting to note that voters think the federal government doesn't do enough to deport illegal aliens.  Rasmussen reports:
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 60% of Likely U.S. Voters think the U.S. government is not aggressive enough in deporting those who are in this country illegally. That shows little change from April but is up from 52% in April of last year. Twelve percent (12%) think the government is too aggressive, down from 16% in April. Sixteen percent (16%) now think the number of deportations is about right, while 12% are not sure.
This is a trend that seems to be growing, as voters shift toward stronger penalties for hiring / housing illegals and harsher punishments for sanctuary cities:
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 55% of Likely U.S. Voters think the policies and practices of the federal government encourage people to enter the United States illegally, down just two points from March’s recent high. Twenty-eight percent (28%) disagree, while 17% are undecided.

Luis Gutiérrez is a Democratic representative from Illinois who frequently attacks anyone who is not for amnesty. As an example, here he is on Sean Hannity's show claiming that securing the U.S. border would be a dereliction of his duty. Transcript and video via Real Clear Politics:
Gutierrez: Voting to Secure Border First "Would Be Derelict In My Duty to Protect America" SEAN HANNITY: Last word. You can pass a bill, secure the border first, would you support that? REP. LUIS GUTIERREZ (D-IL): No. Because it would be folly. It would be derelict in my duty to protect America. HANNITY: In the mean time, every day you don't pass that bill -- you're demanding amnesty. GUTIERREZ: I would be derelict to my duty. [CROSSTALK] GUTIERREZ: It sounds great. It sounds good. HANNITY: It doesn't sound great. GUTIERREZ: It sounds good, but it isn't an effective -- HANNITY: If you don't do it, it's a dereliction of duty, sir.
Here's the video:

Watching the press conference that President Obama gave yesterday in which he revealed that his foreign policy has devolved from "don't do stupid stuff" to "no strategy," I was perplexed that the media was complaining more about the color of the suit instead of its emptiness. Mulling over the subsequent coverage, I couldn't help but wonder what the upcoming September 11th would bring for our country, because our enemies are clearly inspired by weakness. Now Judicial Watch has revealed that Islamic terrorist groups are operating Mexico and plan to attack the United States along our southern border.
Specifically, Judicial Watch sources reveal that the militant group Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) is confirmed to now be operating in Juarez, a famously crime-infested narcotics hotbed situated across from El Paso, Texas. Violent crimes are so rampant in Juarez that the U.S. State Department has issued a number of travel warnings for anyone planning to go there. The last one was issued just a few days ago.

The recent flood of illegal immigrants across the southern border has caused many Americans to wonder why our country is seemingly incapable of border security. A fence is in place in some areas while others are completely open. With that in mind, many Americans will be surprised to learn that the State Department is now funding the construction of a border fence in Ukraine. Jeryl Bier of The Weekly Standard reported:
Feds Buy Border Fence ... for Ukraine As part of the U.S. Crisis Support Package for Ukraine announced by the White House in April, the State Department awarded a $435,000 contract to B.K. Engineering System in Kyiv for razor wire to help "defend the newly imposed borders between Ukraine's mainland and the Crimean peninsula." The contract was awarded on June 12, but was just posted online this week. An $8 million "non-lethal assistance" package was announced at the same time as a larger $50 million aid package for Ukraine to "help Ukraine pursue political and economic reform and strengthen the partnership between the United States and Ukraine." The razor wire (Concertina) is included under "[e]ngineering equipment, communications equipment, vehicles, and non-lethal individual tactical gear for Ukraine’s Border Guard Service" that was spelled out in the April Fact Sheet.
Meanwhile, back here in America, Mexico is protesting the presence of the Texas National Guard on the border.

The news is full of stories and interviews detailing the failure of the Obama Administration to enforce immigration law, the cost to taxpayers because of this failure, and what this means for the state of electoral politics in the run up to November. None of these stories, however, address the human element of what Texans are dealing with every single day. Women like Doctor Corrine Stern, who serves as a medical examiner in Webb County, Texas, sees every day the brutal consequences of an Administration who refuses to enforce the law. Bloomberg News has published a searing exposé of what it truly means to cede power to lawlessness. Doctor Stern's jurisdiction covers the vast border lands surrounding Laredo, where she spends at least 25% of her office's resources in the examination and identification of the abandoned dead:
Her struggle to put names to the bodies offers a glimpse into how intractable the border crisis is as it strains the services of South Texas’s counties. Stern, who estimates that the task takes up 25 percent of her office’s resources, is dealing with migrants from at least six countries, confronting bureaucratic and linguistic hurdles all along the way. She has conducted at least 400 autopsies of immigrants since becoming Webb’s medical examiner in 2006. On any given day, Stern plays the role of forensic expert, homicide detective or even diplomat, asking the governments of Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala and other nations for help in naming the dead and getting their remains home.
Journalists and pundits tend to focus on the costs of apprehending, housing, evaluating, and deporting illegal immigrants, but the real story--and a good portion of the real scandal--lies in how much time and effort American doctors and other officials spend in either repatriating or laying to rest the bodies of those who die during ill-fated border crossings.