Lawlessness Affects Us All

On Saturday, Breitbart posted the following headline:

‘We’re Just Waiting for Another 9/11’: Migrants Buy Fake Green Cards, Social Security ID from NYC Gangs

The article reports:

Black market fake green cards and social security identification are being openly hawked to illegal migrants on the streets of New York City, a report revealed.

Criminals linked to MS-13 and other gangs have been spotted selling the fabricated documents this week in Queens, the New York Post reported.

At least ten men were selling the bogus cards for $80 to $250 while “camped out in broad daylight at four corners along Roosevelt Avenue in Queens,” according to the outlet.

Roy Fenoff, an associate professor at the Department of Criminal Justice at the Citadel, South Carolina, said the documents grant migrants access to almost everything a citizen has.

“Once people have these fake cards, they can work, they can travel, they can access a lot of aspects and services in the United States,” he said. “There are people getting these cards that are not here just to get a job, that they have other intentions, and this helps them carry out criminal activity.”

I wonder how many of the fake id card purchasers will vote in November. How many of them will be paid to vote? How many of them will link up with groups with nefarious purposes?

The article concludes:

Illegal aliens can even skirt past criminal charges by giving fake identities to law enforcement.

“If they’ve never been fingerprinted before, under their fake name they can get arrested five, six, seven, eight times… and they themselves would never have a record,” said John Cutter, retired NYPD deputy chief of the Intelligence Division.

“With fake IDs, they become [a] ghost, so they become more emboldened and more willing to break the law and potentially do something that’s really serious,” he added.

The brother of Jose Antonio Ibarra, the illegal migrant who allegedly killed 22-year-old nursing student Laken Riley, has been charged with allegedly possessing a fake green card, which he used to get a job at the University of Georgia.

Diego Ibarra, 29, was taken into custody by the Clarke County Sheriff’s Office after being fired from his dishwasher job at one of the school’s dining halls upon refusing to provide additional identifying documents, Breitbart News reported.

Diego has “been linked to a brutal Venezuelan gang,” according to the New York Post.

How many Venezuelan gang members does it take to plan a terrorist attack or terrorize a small town? I am hoping we don’t find out.

Why We Need Voter Identification Laws

As of January 2024, 34 states required voters to present identification in order to vote at the polls on Election Day. The states vary on exactly what that identification should be, but some identification is required.

On Tuesday, Hot Air posted an article that illustrates why requiring voters to show some form of identification is a good idea.

The article reports:

Here’s a story that shows a political prank can turn into a good case for the need for voter identification when registering to vote. It involves five recording artists and a house in Katy, Texas.

Katy is a city west of Houston, in the Houston metro area. Katy’s population at the time of the 2020 census was 21,894. The point is that it is a small city, most often thought of as a suburb of Houston. There is a story out today that recording artists  Drake50 Cent, Chris Brown, Trey Songz, and The Game are all registered to vote with the same address in Katy. 

The house is described as “a beige, $300,000 house in a modest new development in Katy.” The homeowner had no idea why the men were registered to vote at that address. Neighbors said they had not seen the performers. 

It’s a prank that uses a federal loophole in voter ID laws. 

…The apparent prank shines a spotlight on a potential loophole in federal voting registration law that allows virtually anyone to register friends, enemies or celebrities to vote. Whether the intent is malicious or not, experts say it is still illegal.

The article concludes:

What is this federal loophole that allows people to register to vote without an ID? It is the Help America Vote Act of 2002. Eligible voters without a driver’s license or a Social Security number are able to take advantage of it. There are some people who are eligible to vote but don’t have either. It might be someone born outside the United States who never applied for a Social Security number. 

When they go to vote, they have to show some other form of identity, like a utility bill. For example, Drake wouldn’t be able to do that. 

Don’t worry. This doesn’t pose a threat to the singers’ actual voter registrations if they are registered in Texas. 

This story, odd as it is, is a good example of the need to close the federal loophole that allows voter registration applications to be presented without identification. It invites shenanigans and creates extra work for election officials.

It is particularly urgent to get voter identification in place because of the number of illegal aliens currently in America that may be encouraged to vote.

The Buck Stops Anywhere But Here

Most Americans are willing to admit that we have a crisis at our southern border. Most Americans are aware that the crisis began when newly-elected President Biden undid all of the Executive Orders President Trump had used to close the border. However, President Biden is still blaming President Trump for the border crisis. Evidently the fact that President Trump has been out of power for three plus years does not play into President Biden’s logic.

On Saturday, Breitbart posted a list of 64 ways that President Biden has opened America’s borders.

I will post part of the list. Please follow the link above to read the entire list and the details.

Here are some of the highlights:

  1. Jan 20, 2021: President Biden terminated the National Emergency at the Southwest border (Proclamation 9844), thereby halting emergency construction of a border wall.
  2. Jan 20, 2021: President Biden issued an Executive Order (EO) further entrenching the unlawful Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
  3. Jan 20, 2021: President Biden unveiled the U.S. Citizenship Act, which would provide amnesty to millions of illegal aliens in the U.S., demonstrating intent to reward illegal border crossers with a path to citizenship.
  4. Jan 20, 2021: President Biden revoked Trump-era Executive Order that was designed to ensure there was meaningful enforcement of U.S. immigration laws.
  5. Jan 20, 2021: The Administration issued an Executive action ending limitations and restrictions against immigration from certain countries associated with terrorism.
  6. Jan 20, 2021: The Biden Administration announced a 100-day moratorium on deportations and immigration enforcement, effectively providing amnesty to criminal and other removable aliens and sending the signal the Biden Administration would not enforce the law. 
  7. Feb 1, 2021: The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) implemented Acting Secretary Pekoske’s policy requiring a new “process [that] shall provide for assessments of alternatives to removal including, but not limited to, staying or reopening cases, alternative forms of detention, custodial detention, whether to grant temporary deferred action, or other appropriate action.”
  8. Feb 2, 2021: President Biden issued Executive Order (EO) 14010 and began processing asylum claims at the border.
  9. Feb 6, 2021: Secretary of State Antony Blinken suspended, and began termination procedures, for the Trump Administration’s Asylum Cooperative Agreements with El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras.
  10. Feb 2021: The Biden Administration voluntarily stopped applying Title 42 expulsions to children across the board, setting off a major wave of unaccompanied alien children, family units, and illegal aliens generally heading to the U.S. border.

That’s only the first ten. President Biden willingly ended the programs that were securing our southern border. He is responsible for the disaster that border has become. He is also responsible for any negative results of the large number of military-age men that are coming across that border.

Congress Actually Listened To The People!

The text of the border bill crafted by the Senate was released Sunday night. People who read the bill quickly pointed out that the bill did not secure the border and it provided more money for Ukraine than the annual budget of the Marine Corps. The Speaker of the House Mike Johnson declared the bill dead on arrival (as it should have been).

This was Stephen Miller’s Twitter post:

Well, the uproar has had an impact on Congress.

On Monday, Breitbart reported:

Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) made the shocking decision to recommend Republicans block the advancement of the Senate pro-migration border bill.

That first procedural vote was set for Wednesday. It is unknown if Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) will forge ahead, although that is likely.

McConnell cited the overwhelming number of Senate Republicans planning to vote against the measure either on substance or because they wanted more time, according to Punchbowl News.

The longtime Republican leader has spoken in favor of the deal and did not express any personal hesitations about the legislation to his colleagues.

According to Punchbowl, McConnell said the political mood in the country has changed since negotiations began months ago. At that time, McConnell and Democrat leaders agreed to pair foreign aid to Ukraine, of which McConnell is the Senate’s greatest champion, with a border compromise.

If you believe McConnell’s explanation, I have a bridge to sell you. The real reason McConnell changed his mind is that it is February of an election year and McConnell is afraid that the voters might remember his support for this awful bill. The sole purpose of this bill is to legalize as many illegal aliens as possible before November so that they can be Democrat voters. Why McConnell was willing to go along with that, I don’t know.

Creating An Unnecessary Constitutional Crisis

On Thursday, John Hinderaker at Power Line Blog posted an article about the crisis at the southern border. There has been a crisis at our southern border since day one of the Biden administration when President Biden undid some of the procedures President Trump had put in place to deal with illegal immigrants. I am not sure why this is finally being addressed after three years, but I am glad that someone is taking action. It is very possible that it is finally being addressed because of the impact moving the illegal aliens around the country has had on Democrat-controlled cities. I am always suspicious of the timing of crises–in recent years they have become political tools.

John Hinderaker reports:

The Biden Administration has dealt a devastating blow to America by opening up the southern border to all comers. The influx of illegals threatens our national security and our economy, and it has placed an intolerable burden on the border states. How intolerable, is demonstrated by the panic that seizes blue cities when they are faced with a tiny fraction of the burden suffered by communities near the open border.

Joe Biden’s border policy is unconstitutional. Under Article II, his most fundamental duty as president is to “take care that the laws be faithfully executed.” Biden has not faithfully executed our immigration laws; rather, he has deliberately sabotaged and negated them. This is an impeachable offense, but what to do in the meantime?

In Texas, a constitutional crisis may be brewing. Governor Greg Abbott, having had enough of the scofflaw Biden Administration, had fencing erected along the border to discourage illegal migration. Biden, determined to illegally undermine our country, directed that the fencing be torn down so that more illegals can pour in. The case reached the Supreme Court, which voted 5-4 to overturn a Court of Appeals decision that enjoined federal border agents from cutting the wire. So for now, the Court has the feds back in control.

The article includes a memo written by Texas Governor Greg Abbott stating that it is the responsibility of the federal government to enforce the border. It also includes screenshots of tweets by other governors supporting Governor Abbott.

The article concludes>

Sarah Hoyt says that Oklahoma, Montana, Virginia, Arkansas, West Virginia, Louisiana and Idaho have also lined up behind Texas. And, she reports, the entire Republican Governors Association has signed a letter supporting Abbott. So far, no Democrats. Fine: let’s let sovereignty be the issue on which the 2024 election turns.

I haven’t studied the constitutional issues raised by this crisis in any detail. For the moment, I would simply say, with Justice Robert Jackson, that the Constitution is not a suicide pact. No sane interpretation of the relevant constitutional provisions could conclude that a scofflaw president, by violating federal law and betraying his oath of office, can disable the states, who came together to form the federal government in the first place, from defending themselves against foreign invasion.

A nation without borders is no longer a nation. The battle has been joined. Let’s fight it out.

Bidenomics Works For Some People

On Wednesday, Red State posted an article about Bidenomics. Unfortunately it doesn’t work for the average American.

The article reports:

It’s a given that running drugs (and smuggling people) is a lucrative business — else the cartels wouldn’t be in the mix, to begin with. But the amount involved is utterly mind-boggling. While many Americans struggle under the weight of crushing inflation, Bidenomics may have found its champion in the cartels.

According to CBP estimates, the cartels are taking in a cool $32 million…per week. And that’s just in the Del Rio, Texas, sector.

Good to know Biden administration policies are benefiting someone’s pocketbooks, I suppose. 

How many families have been impacted by the illegal drugs coming across our southern border? How many Americans have lost their jobs because illegal aliens are working ‘under the table’ for lower wages?

I was aware of a situation at one point where an illegal alien was taken advantage of by a person from their own country. They were working at a restaurant ‘under the table’ at a very low wage, and when they were fired, the person they were working for refused to pay them for their last two weeks of work. Being in America as an illegal alien does not mean that you will have the opportunity to get rich. Because you are here illegally, you do not have the protections that an American citizen is supposed to have. Admittedly, we are paying illegal aliens money at the border and giving them free tickets to wherever they want to go, but there is no guarantee that when they arrive at their destination there will be a place to work or to stay.  Meanwhile, how many homeless Americans are living on the street?

The number of illegal aliens coming into our country every day is a heath risk, a terrorism risk, a human trafficking risk, and an economic risk (see Cloward-Pivan). We need to redo our immigration system to make it easier to come here legally, but for the time being we need to limit immigration so that the people who are here can assimilate. We should also deport any illegals that have accepted welfare benefits. American taxpayers should not be paying for the mess we have created at our southern border.

An Odd Shift In Reporting By The Mainstream Media

Some of us who watch the mainstream media closely are often suspicious when the media starts covering a story that they have purposely ignored. Generally there is a political motive behind the sudden coverage.

On January 3rd, Issues & Insights posted an article wondering why the mainstream media was all of a sudden concerned about the number of illegal aliens coming into America every day.

The article notes:

After spending three years largely ignoring the border, the mainstream press is suddenly all over it, with headlines blaring about a “surge,” “crisis” and “call for action.” Why now?

…Weirdly, the press is even exaggerating the current “surge.” Consider that CNN story, which says:

“Border authorities encountered more than 225,000 migrants along the U.S.-Mexico border this month, marking the highest monthly total recorded since 2000, according to preliminary Homeland Security statistics shared with CNN.”

Except that’s not true. According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data, illegal crossings exceeded 225,000 in August, September, October, and November of this year, and in six previous months since President Joe Biden took office.

As a matter of fact, illegal crossings have averaged more than 200,000 since Biden moved into the White House.

Also weird is the fact that the Department of Homeland Security is leaking these numbers for maximum effect, given that Homeland Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has spent the past three years insisting that the “border is secure.”

The article points out when the crisis began:

So again, we ask, why now? This is a crisis that began the moment Biden took the keys to the White House.

The Financial Times – in an article headlined “Surge in border crossings creates political upheaval in the U.S.” – offers a clue. It notes that “the migration issue is gaining salience among Democrat voters” and quotes Houston immigration lawyer Charles Foster saying: “It’s gotten to the point that the vast majority of Republicans and a growing percentage of Democrats agree with this concept that the border is wide open now.” 

A December Wall Street Journal poll finds that Biden trails Trump by 30 points on voter confidence in securing the border.

Is this part of the effort on the part of the Democrat party (in conjunction with the mainstream media) to force President Biden not to run again? I believe we will know the answer to that question sometime in March.

In What Universe Does This Make Sense?

On Tuesday, The Daily Caller reported that the Medi-Cal program in California will now cover healthcare for illegal aliens. It is not a surprise that California has one of the highest tax rates in the country and one of the highest cost of living.

The article reports:

The state of California’s program providing taxpayer-funded health care to illegal immigrants covers sex change surgeries and hormones, according to a Daily Caller News Foundation review of the program.

The program, which is known as Medi-Cal, covers hormone therapy and surgical procedures “that bring primary and secondary gender characteristics into conformity with the individual’s identified gender, including ancillary services, such as hair removal, incident to those services,” according to a state memo from May 2022. Roughly 700,000 illegal immigrants in the state between the age of 26 and 49 qualify for full coverage as of Jan. 1, California State Sen. María Elena Durazo said in May of the state’s latest move to expand the program.

I have no problem providing necessary medical care to anyone who needs it. However, the cost of sex change surgery and the drugs necessary to keep up the pretense should not be paid by the taxpayers–particularly when the people requesting the surgery are not here legally.

The article concludes:

In recent years, there’s been a massive surge in illegal immigration at the southern border, where federal authorities recorded more than 2 million encounters of migrants crossing the southern border illegally in fiscal year 2023 and more than 2.2 million in fiscal year 2022, according to federal data.

“In California, we believe everyone deserves access to quality, affordable health care coverage – regardless of income or immigration status,” Newsom’s office told ABC News of the latest expansion. “Through this expansion, we’re making sure families and communities across California are healthier, stronger, and able to get the care they need when they need it.”

At some point, Americans need to realize that the cost of illegal aliens and the disrespect many of these illegal aliens are showing to our laws will destroy the country as we know it.

Bidenomics And The Cost Of Buying A House

Although President Biden has attempted to buy votes from younger voters with his student loan bailout programs, in the process he has created inflation and interest rates that put buying a home out of reach for the very people he has tried to bribe.

On Monday, Breitbart posted an article about what has happened to monthly mortgage payments under President Biden.

The article reports:

The average monthly mortgage payment in Joe Biden’s America has soared to $3,322, per analysis from the Wall Street Journal.

That $3,322 is nearly double the average monthly mortgage payment when His Fraudulency assumed office. When former President Trump left office, the average monthly mortgage payment was $1,787.

The article includes the following Twitter post:

The article notes:

Those obnoxiously high mortgage payments are not only due to the Bidenflation caused by His Fraudulency’s lunatic government spending. There are other factors…

For those of you who vote Democrat and are currently pissing away all your money on rent because you can’t afford a home, riddle me this: What happens to the housing market when a president throws open our southern border to millions and millions of illegal aliens who need a place to live? Think hard now… Could it be that when you have a finite amount of something people want and then flood the country with millions more people who want it…? Yes, that’s right, dummies, the cost of that Something People Want explodes and that Something People Want becomes scarcer. And now you want it and can’t get it because you’re a dummy.

The second factor is this… Democrats hate single-family homes. This is why they use Climate Change to justify blocking the construction of new homes. Democrats want us all packed in cities in massive government housing complexes. By the way, they make no secret of this.

The final factor is this… This is all by design, dummies. Democrats know lunatic government spending creates lunatic inflation and that lunatic inflation destroys purchasing power and creates high interest rates that make it impossible for the middle class to purchase a home. Democrats also know that when you flood a country already dealing with a housing crisis caused by enviro-lies with millions of illegals, housing costs explode.

If you are a young American just entering the workforce full time, do yourself a favor and vote every Democrat (and RINO Republican) out of office. That is the only way you can secure your financial future.

Avoiding The Chickens That Have Come Home To Roost

On Friday, Breitbart reported that President Biden is considering a plan that would require all illegal immigrants to remain in Texas. I guess all of those Democrat cities and states that declared themselves sanctuary cities and sanctuary states didn’t really mean it.

The article reports:

President Joe Biden is reportedly considering a plan to require illegal aliens with dubious asylum claims to remain in Texas — a move that would see the Lone Star State absorb tens of thousands of illegal aliens every week.

Biden administration officials who spoke anonymously to the Los Angeles Times said the plan is being considered so that if newly arrived border crossers fail their initial asylum screenings, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents can more easily locate and deport the illegal aliens within Texas since they would be close to the United States-Mexico border.

Translated loosely, what he is saying is, “Let’s destroy Texas. It’s a red state. Maybe we can turn it blue if we do this.”

The article concludes:

Under Trump, the Remain in Mexico policy effectively helped end Catch and Release at the southern border by requiring border crossers to stay in Mexico while awaiting immigration hearings in the U.S. The overwhelming majority, more than 70 percent, in the program who had their cases adjudicated as of June 2022 were deported after filing invalid asylum claims.

A fixture of the Biden administration’s lax enforcement of federal immigration law has been to oppose policies that seek to limit the movement of border crossers and illegal aliens — opting for an expansive Catch and Release network that has released millions into American communities in the last two and a half years.

Most recently, at a Senate hearing on asylum law, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) estimated that at least five million border crossers and illegal aliens had been welcomed into the U.S. interior since Biden took office — a foreign population that exceeds the size of half of all the states.

One of the specific duties of the President as listed in the U.S, Constitution is to “…take care that the Laws by faithfully executed….” There are laws on the books that require our borders to be secured. It would be nice if President Biden would uphold those laws.

Didn’t You Always Want To Run A Bed And Breakfast?

On Monday, Breitbart reported that Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey is now asking residents with spare bedrooms or apartments to take border crossers and illegal aliens into their homes.

The article reports:

Gov. Maura Healey (D) is calling on residents with empty bedrooms in their homes and apartments to consider taking in border crossers and illegal aliens, WBUR reports:

Massachusetts officials are seeking residents willing to host newly arrived families in need of shelter. Hosts are asked to provide a room or apartment for a few days, until longer-term accommodations can be arranged. [Emphasis added]

A significant portion of the families in need of housing in the state are new immigrants. Many of those arriving in Boston have fled violence in Haiti and traveled through other states before coming to Massachusetts. [Emphasis added]

The article continues:

As Boston Herald columnist Howie Carr noted, Healey has not sent border crossers and illegal aliens to nearly any of the “millionaire destinations” in Massachusetts — like Nantucket, Martha’s Vineyard, Cambridge, or Newburyport.

“The Healey administration has released a list of the 28 cities and towns where it is spending millions on hotels and motels for thousands of handout-demanding illegals arriving from the Third World,” Carr writes. “Oddly, however, almost all the ultra-affluent suburban communities most loudly committed to celebrating diversity have thus far been unable to provide suitable free housing for the new non-working classes.”

Today, about 316,000 illegal aliens reside in Massachusetts.

There are many reasons I left Massachusetts…

Are There Benefits To Being An American Citizen?

On Thursday, The Washington Examiner posted an article about the challenges facing Chicago as a sanctuary city.

The article reports:

Since last year, upwards of 10,000 immigrants have arrived in Chicago, most of them bused there by Texas officials through no choice of their own. This has presented a challenge for Chicago, which has made itself a “sanctuary city.”

Wednesday night, in order to deal with the influx, the Chicago City Council voted 34-13 to approve $51 million for immigrant housing. But this was no long-term fix; rather, that funding is only expected to last the city through the end of June. Since January, the city has spent over $100 million on the immigrant crisis.

And not everybody in the city was happy about the decision. At the meeting, longtime Chicago residents voiced their opposition to the funding. Fox Chicago reported, “Several groups in Chicago are asking how the city can suddenly come up with millions of dollars for new visitors, while local communities remain neglected.” Multiple people had to be escorted out of the meeting for their vocal opposition, and Mayor Brandon Johnson had to restore order after it became too raucous.

The sentiment behind the opposition makes sense. Chicago is a city that already has a million different problems. In 2022, crime spiked by 41%, and although shootings have actually slightly dropped in recent years, Chicago is still one of the top 10 cities when it comes to murders per capita. Just last weekend, 60 people were shot, and 12 were killed in holiday violence. There is also a significant homelessness problem, and dozens of schools in Chicago report zero students proficient in math or reading. Businesses are leaving the city at an alarming rate, all while it looks like taxes are about to become even more burdensome in order to raise additional revenue. In other words, Chicago is a complete mess right now.

The money is going to be spent on people who are here illegally. Why are we not shipping them back to their home countries or demanding that their home countries pay part of the bill? How much foreign aid are we giving their home countries as we pay to take care of their citizens? I don’t mind helping people, but why are we putting the welfare of people who are here illegally above the welfare of people who are legitimate citizens?

The Cost Of Not Securing The Border

One of the problems with the number of people who are in America illegally is that many of them drive illegally. Unfortunately, many of them have accidents while driving, some of them drive while drunk, and some have no insurance to cover the damage they cause. That happened in my community a few years ago when someone ran their car into one of the pillars leading into the community. Because the person had no license or insurance, the community had to pay for the repairs. The person who did the damage did not pay. As a result of some of the problems with illegal aliens driving without a license, some states have decided to issue licenses to illegal aliens.

On Monday, Breitbart reported:

Providing thousands of eligible illegal aliens with driver’s licenses is set to cost Massachusetts taxpayers some $28 million, Gov. Maura Healey (D) reveals.

Last year, Massachusetts joined a swath of other states after voters approved a new law that will make driver’s licenses available to potentially 85,000 illegal aliens living across the state.

Just for the record, according to those numbers, illegal aliens make up approximately 1.2 percent of the population of Massachusetts.

The article also notes:

After previously estimating the new law would cost taxpayers less than $10 million to implement, Healey’s office now reveals that it is likely to cost close to $30 million.

“In support of this new law, H.1 adds $28 million in funding to expand service hours at select RMV locations … new applicants will pay the standard transaction fees at the Registry, bringing in additional revenue that will largely offset these implementation costs,” Healey’s office noted in a budget memo.

The article explains why people who support open borders support driver’s licenses for illegal aliens:

Driver’s licenses for illegal aliens are vital for the open borders lobby because often when illegal aliens are pulled over by local police, driving without a driver’s license is the first criminal charge that can put them in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody for arrest and deportation.

In Fiscal Year 2022, states scored more than 17,500 drunk driving convictions for illegal aliens who were later arrested by ICE agents. Another nearly 11,500 traffic offense convictions were settled against illegal aliens turned over to ICE.

If people break the law to come to America, why do we expect them to respect the law after they get here?

Common Sense Rears Its Ugly Head

On Friday, The U.K. Daily Mail posted the following headline:

Trump warns Republicans not to cut Social Security or Medicare in their debt ceiling battle – and instead focus on ‘foreign aid, cracking down on migration and BILLIONS spent on climate extremism’

I think history has proven that giving excessive amounts of money to people that hate us has not caused them to hate us less. Migration is costing millions in health and dental care for illegal aliens, and the climate change people have gone over the edge with their war on gas stoves.

The article reports:

Former President Donald Trump waded into the debt ceiling impasse on Friday, urging Republicans to protect hardworking Americans and seniors by not cutting money from entitlement programs.

‘Under no circumstances should Republicans vote to cut a single penny from Medicare or Social Security to pay for Joe Biden‘s reckless spending spree,’ Trump said in a video message. 

It comes as House Republicans flex their muscles, warning Democrats that they will only help head off a crisis and raise the debt ceiling if it comes with sweeping cuts to spending programs.

Just for the record, Social Security is not an entitlement program–the people currently collecting it have paid into it all of their working lives. Had they been allowed to invest the money themselves (and done it prudently and faithfully), they would have a whole lot more money to spend. Also consider the fact that if someone paying into Social Security dies before collecting, the money they put into Social Security is not inherited by their family–it is simply paid out to someone else.

The article continues:

In a two-minute policy video, Trump makes clear his opposition — channeling his 2016 campaign, when he distanced himself from small-government, spending-cut conservatives.

Instead he suggests his party’s lawmakers should target foreign aid, money spent on climate change and migration. 

‘While we absolutely need to stop Biden’s out-of-control spending, the pain should be borne by Washington bureaucrats, not by hardworking American families and American seniors,’ he said in the video first obtained by Politico.

‘The seniors are being absolutely destroyed in the last two years. 

‘Cut the hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars going to corrupt, foreign countries. 

‘Cut the mass releases of illegal aliens that are depleting our social safety net, and destroying our country. 

‘Cut the left-wing gender programs from our military. Cut the billions being spent on climate extremism.

‘Cut waste fraud and abuse everywhere we can find it.’

Love him or hate him, President Trump is an astute businessman who solves problems. I wish he were in the White House now.

When The Shoe Is On The Other Foot

I didn’t hear a lot of complaints from New York City when the southern towns of Texas were being overrun by illegal immigrants. Now that Texas and Florida are shipping those illegal immigrants north to the self-proclaimed ‘sanctuary cities,” those cities are suddenly facing the consequences of declaring themselves sanctuary cities. On Friday, The Daily Caller posted an article about how New York City is dealing with being a sanctuary city.

The article notes:

Democrat New York City Mayor Eric Adams declared a “state of emergency” Friday to manage the influx of illegal migrants bused from the southern border to the Big Apple.

Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott began busing illegal migrants to New York City in August and, since then, the city has received around 17,000 illegal migrants, Adams said. Adams’ declaration will allow city agencies to construct “humanitarian relief centers” to address the surge.

…Abbott’s office called Adams “an absolute hypocrite” for his decision in a statement to the Daily Caller News Foundation.

“In a city with a population of over 8 million, he’s claiming an emergency for just over 3,100 migrants being bused into his self-declared sanctuary city,” Abbott spokeswoman Renae Eze told the DCNF. “That’s not even 1% of the population of New York City.”

The Texas Department of Public Safety posted the following statistics:

According to DHS status indicators, over 382,000 criminal aliens have been booked into local Texas jails between June 1, 2011, and September 30, 2022, of which over 263,000 were classified as illegal aliens by DHS.

Between June 1, 2011, and September 30, 2022, these 263,000 illegal aliens were charged with more than 442,000 criminal offenses which included arrests for 820 homicide charges; 53,672 assault charges; 8,162 burglary charges; 53,687 drug charges; 856 kidnapping charges; 21,511 theft charges; 34,571 obstructing police charges; 2,480 robbery charges; 5,600 sexual assault charges; 6,584 sexual offense charges; and 5,087 weapon charges. DPS criminal history records reflect those criminal charges have thus far resulted in over 164,000 convictions including 391 homicide convictions; 20,131 assault convictions; 4,200 burglary convictions; 23,008 drug convictions; 272 kidnapping convictions; 8,767 theft convictions; 14,330 obstructing police convictions; 1,439 robbery convictions; 2,653 sexual assault convictions; 3,106 sexual offense convictions; and 1,769 weapon convictions.

Northern states and northern cities didn’t really care about illegal immigration until is showed up on their doorsteps. Maybe that will be the key to ending the Biden-administration-approved invasion of our country.

It’s Always The Same Names

I wonder how long the border will stay open once the Democrats realize that many Hispanics are voting Republican. Well, until the Democrats realize that, they are making every effort to allow illegal aliens to remain in America as long as possible.

On Wednesday, Breitbart reported on a $41 million federal contract from President Joe Biden’s Department of Justice (DOJ) to help illegal aliens evade deportation from the United States. Surprisingly enough, the organization that received the contract has financial links to billionaire George Soros.

The article reports:

The Acacia Center for Justice, an NGO with financial ties to the Soros-linked Vera Institute of Justice, scored a contract from Biden’s DOJ to provide “legal services” to border crossers and illegal aliens after they are released into the U.S. interior in the hopes of staying permanently.

The article concludes:

The Soros-linked Vera Institute of Justice, as Breitbart News previously reported, was recently awarded a $172 million contract from Biden’s DOJ to do the same work — help illegal aliens evade deportation from the U.S.

In 2018, the Vera Institute of Justice was previously awarded $310 million by the Obama administration to help Unaccompanied Alien Children (UACs) avoid deportation.

The latest estimates reveal that the Biden administration, from February 2021 to August 2022, has released at least 1.35 million border crossers and illegal aliens into American communities — a foreign population larger than the resident populations of Wyoming, Vermont, Alaska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Delaware, Rhode Island, and Montana.

It’s okay. As soon as the illegals get the right to vote and start voting Republican, the border will be magically closed.

When Reality Shows Up

One America News posted an article on Tuesday about what appears to be a change of attitude on the part of New York City Mayor Eric Adams. It seems that New York City is being overwhelmed by the surge of illegal immigrants looking to make a home in the city.

The article reports:

New York City Mayor Eric Adams sounded the alarm on the surge of illegal aliens coming to the Big Apple. During a press conference Sunday, Adams warned the city about the massive influx.

One of his campaign priorities was standing up for “undocumented New Yorkers” by making sure NYC remained a “sanctuary city.” He doubled down on that promise by informing residents that right now “this is an all hands on deck” moment.

Adams went on to say residents must all be on board after asking the administration for help last week while calling the migrants a “real burden on New Yorkers.” Border towns are familiar with NYC’s plight as more than 3 million migrants have surged into the country since Joe Biden took office.

Adams pleaded with the White House to provide aid to help accommodate the more than 2,800 people who recently entered the city’s shelter system. The Mayor was quick to blame migrants sent by Texas and Arizona, but also acknowledged federal migrant flights have contributed to the total sum. Adams listed a number of services for migrants he would like to be financed by federal tax dollars.

The problems New York City is encountering have been an everyday challenge for cities along America’s southern border since the Biden administration took office. These problems have been ignored by Democrat leaders in other parts of the country. Now that the illegal aliens are moving north, some Democrat leaders are beginning to notice the problem.

On July 17th, Fox News reported:

Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser appeared on CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday to discuss the persistent homelessness problem plaguing her city.

Host Margaret Brennan brought up a Washington Post report that suggested homeless shelters are now being filled with illegal immigrants being bused in from Texas and Arizona.

Bowser admitted that it’s a “significant issue” and called on the federal government to get more involved as she fears illegal immigrants are being “tricked” into traveling to her city.

On April 6th, I quoted a report from The New York Post:

The White House has quietly resumed its after-dark charter flights of underage migrants to a suburban airport north of New York City — after a Post expose led to their suspension last year.

The Post watched as a group of migrant teens got off an Avelo Airlines plane that arrived at the Westchester County Airport near White Plains at 9:25 p.m. Thursday. The group then boarded three waiting buses that drove off about 50 minutes later.

The Democrats are all for illegal immigration until it comes to their city.

 

Using Taxpayers’ Money For Illegal Aliens

On Friday, The Daily Caller reported that Colorado will now use taxpayer dollars to fund healthcare for illegal aliens. It’s not that I don’t want people to get the healthcare they need, but the first priority for healthcare needs to be American citizens who are here legally. If you are here illegally, you need to go home. If home is a political nightmare, maybe you need to find people to join you in fixing it.

The article reports:

The program was approved under Section 1332, a provision of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) that allows states to create their own requirements for insurance markets. Both the Department of the Treasury and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) approved Colorado’s waiver request, submitted in November 2021. The federal government will provide $1.6 billion in pass-through funding to the state of Colorado over a five-year period to facilitate its healthcare exchanges.

Colorado’s application makes clear that its new healthcare exchanges are intended to facilitate the sale of taxpayer-subsidized health insurance to illegal immigrants.

“The State will be implementing a State-based subsidy program in plan year 2022, aimed at reducing the out-of-pocket cost sharing for individuals and families purchasing coverage through the exchange. In plan year 2023, a new subsidy program will be offered to Coloradans not eligible for federal subsidies, including Coloradans without a documented immigration status,” the state wrote in its application of the Colorado Option.

The article concludes:

Congressional Republicans are calling out the approval, with Colorado Rep. Ken Buck claiming that it violates the “clear intent” of the Affordable Care Act.

“While Americans suffer at the pump, Biden gives their tax dollars to illegal aliens,” Buck said in a statement. “This is one more episode of the Biden administration’s almost unbelievable commitment to putting the needs of Americans behind everyone else.”

“Democrats are putting illegal aliens first and Americans last. While Coloradans struggle to pay for gas and are being destroyed by inflation, Democrats’ top priority is to take your tax dollars and use them to give illegal aliens free Obamacare,” fellow Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert added.

As long as we have Americans struggling to pay for health care, we should not be subsidizing illegal aliens. We are already diverting funds designated for veterans to other places (article here), we don’t need to spend more tax money on people who are not even here legally.

This Seems A Bit Backwards To Me

On Friday, Breitbart reported that many of the illegal aliens that are crossing our southern border are refusing to get the coronavirus vaccine.

The article reports:

This week, while striking down President Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate for every large business in the nation, the United States Supreme Court upheld a mandate that will require 17 million American healthcare workers to obtain the vaccine or risk firing.

Likewise, in a number of blue states like California, New York, and Illinois as well as giant corporations like McDonald’s and Goldman Sachs are requiring millions of Americans to obtain the vaccine to work, eat in restaurants, enter event venues, and other indoor spaces.

New data, published by CBS News, reveals that nearly 4-in-10 illegal aliens in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention are refusing the vaccine:

The 48,246 individuals who have received a coronavirus vaccine in detention also represent only one-third of 141,000 immigrants who have entered ICE custody after July 2021, when the agency received its first federal allocation of vaccines for detainees, according to an analysis of government data. [Emphasis added]

According to unpublished ICE records, 37.6% of immigrants who have been offered the vaccine by the agency have declined it. [Emphasis added]

At the same time, coronavirus infections have exploded in recent months inside ICE detention facilities. Since the start of the new year, detained illegal aliens with coronavirus have jumped 520 percent.

If those in power in America were truly concerned with the health of Americans, would this situation be allowed to continue?

Fighting Bad Federal Policies

On Wednesday, Breitbart reported that Representative Mo Brooks has introduced a bill that would allow cities and states to refuse the federal government’s attempts to resettle illegal aliens in their communities.

The article reports:

The “Local Control Act” essentially adds what the congressman’s office described as a “new section” to the Immigration and Nationality Act, which would specifically require the federal officials, including the Secretary of Homeland Security “in consultation with” the Secretary of Health and Human Services and Attorney General, to notify the governor of a state prior to settling the illegal aliens in that specific state. What is more, the measure empowers the governor to stop the settlement altogether.

The article concludes:

Brooks’ measure coincides with data released by the Department of Homeland security, which shows that the Feds lost track of over 50,000 migrants released by the agency last year, as they were required to report to ICE once arriving to their desired U.S. location but failed to do so.

As Breitbart News reported:

The federal disclosure covers the period between March and August 2021. Of more than 270,000 migrants released by DHS, roughly 104,000 were placed in the NTR system which trusts the migrant to voluntarily report to ICE at their intended U.S. destination to begin the deportation process.

The DHS report issued in response to an inquiry by U.S. Senator Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) notes more than 50,000 migrants — greater than half of those released under NTRs —failed to make formal contact with ICE.

In an exclusive report by Breitbart Texas, the policy change relying on the honor system of self-reporting to ICE went into effect in March 2021. Data released by DHS only addresses the first six months of the procedure in place.

During the first eight days of the new year alone, agents along the southwest border apprehended over 19,000 migrants, as Breitbart News detailed.

If the federal government will not do its job, the states will have to take action. Illegal immigration is expensive, and it is not fair to ask communities and states to shoulder the burden of illegal activity. There is no vetting, and communities have no idea who is coming into their areas.

The Damage Done And The Damage To Come

The Epoch Times reported the following today:

The Senate on Tuesday morning passed the $1.2 trillion White House-backed infrastructure bill after weeks of debate, although it’s not clear whether the bill will advance in the Democrat-controlled House.

The measure, called the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, was hashed out by a bipartisan group of senators and President Joe Biden’s administration. The bill, which passed 69-30, will include $550 billion in new federal spending over five years.

The 2,700-page-long bill invests $110 billion toward roads, bridges, and major projects; provides some $66 billion to passenger and freight rail; $65 billion to rebuild the electric grid; $65 billion to expand broadband internet lines; $55 billion for water pipes including replacing lead pipes; and more.

“It has taken quite a long time, and there have been detours and everything else, but this will do a whole lot of good for America, and the Senate can be proud it has passed this,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said about the bill.

While some have described the bill as “bipartisan,” several prominent Republicans have vocally opposed it and claimed it would hand a victory to Democrats in Congress ahead of a fraught 2022 midterm election season. Former President Donald Trump again pilloried Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who voted in favor of the measure, for giving the bill his blessing while publicly questioning the Kentucky Republican’s leadership capacity.

On Sunday The Conservative Treehouse reported:

Good grief these UniParty Senators are infuriating.  During this interview with Maria Bartiromo, North Dakota Senator Kevin Cramer (U-DC) actually has the nerve to brag about $450 billion in infrastructure spending amid a phase-one bill that has $1.2 trillion in total.  What’s the other $800 billion dollars being spent on doofus?

Another of Cramer’s advocacy points is how the U.S. Chamber of Commerce supports the bill; as if that’s a good thing.  Making matters worse, Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer devised a process pledging that this part of the infrastructure bill (phase-1) will only advance if it is married to the House party-line legislation (phase-2) that will spend as much as $3.5 trillion MORE on climate change action, paid leave policies, health care expansion, and other progressive agenda items.

The insufferable republicans that support the phase-one bill (The DeceptiCon crew) are, by direct consequence, advancing the $3.5 trillion phase-two bill that is entirely a Democrat spending spree on the Green New Deal and other insane initiatives. Acckkkk… we desperately need a second party in DC.

The passage of this bill is expected to pave the way for the reconciliation passage of the $3.5 trillion Democrat budget resolution.

Yesterday Red State Observer reported:

The framework for a $3.5 trillion Democrat budget resolution includes plans to provide amnesty to millions of illegal aliens living in the United States via the filibuster-proof reconciliation process.

On Monday, Senate Democrats unveiled the budget framework, which includes a series of instructions for various Senate committees to craft specific plans. As such, the framework instructs the Senate Judiciary Committee to spend $107 billion in American taxpayer money on amnesty for illegal aliens.

The language of the framework is vague, asking the Judiciary Committee members to give “lawful permanent status for qualified immigrants.” Those who would qualify for such an amnesty remain unclear.

The cost of the amnesty to taxpayers is just slightly lower than Senate Budget Committee chairman Bernie Sanders’ (I-VT) amnesty plan, which was projected to cost $150 billion.

Any amnesty plan crafted by Democrats is expected to give green cards, which lead to naturalized American citizenship, millions of illegal aliens eligible for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), those with Temporary Protected Status (TPS), those working on U. S. farms, and those considered “essential” workers.

This bill is not a step forward for Americans. It is a giant step into more government control of our lives and spending that will create massive inflation.

Insanity Reigns

Om Wednesday, The Washington Examiner posted an article about some of the benefits given to those who cross our border illegally.

The article reports:

The Biden administration is granting thousands of illegal border crossers one-year renewable permits to stay in the United States to apply for asylum, a process that can take years.

What’s more, according to a new report, they are allowed to receive Social Security cards, paving the way to government benefits and jobs.

Immigration expert Todd Bensman, who has been embedded in the process for the Center for Immigration Studies, said in a new report that an estimated 34,000 recent border crossers have already been distributed around the country with the documents.

He said that if the migrant qualifies to stay, and most do under the Biden rules, they are given a COVID test then documents to stay before being guided to a privately run service that buses them around the country.

I guess this is one way to bankrupt Social Security–how many illegal immigrants will be claiming benefits without having put much into the system?

The article concludes:

Before Biden took office, nearly all asylum-seekers and potential border crossers stayed in Mexico while their papers were processed. Many turned around and went home. Former President Donald Trump, with Mexico’s help, instituted that process because a majority of those who had entered the country during prior administrations never appeared for their court hearings on their application.

Now the older system is back in operation, said Bensman, and migrants are being sent to cities in Texas, Florida, New Jersey, Tennessee, Massachusetts, Indiana, Michigan, North Carolina, Georgia, and Kentucky.

“On the bank of the Rio Grande in Del Rio recently,” Bensman wrote, he “happened across a family of four who had just crossed and turned themselves in to a Border Patrol agent. They were seated on the ground next to his agency truck. Asked where they were from and where they expected to go next, the parents answered that they were from Venezuela and were on their way to join relatives in Florida.”

“They should be there inside of a week.”

We are giving away our country while neglecting the needs of America’s veterans and America’s poor.

 

The Biden Administration And The Supreme Court

Part of President Trump’s effort to fight illegal immigration was to withhold funds from “Sanctuary Cities.” Needless to say, some of those Sanctuary Cites sued to government. On March 5th, The Epoch Times posted an article detailing what has happened to those lawsuits in the Biden administration.

The article reports:

The Supreme Court has dismissed three pending requests to hear challenges to the Trump administration’s order to withhold millions of dollars in law enforcement funds from so-called sanctuary jurisdictions—states and cities that refuse to cooperate with Department of Homeland Security efforts to deport people residing in the United States illegally.

“After a request from the Biden administration yesterday, the Supreme Court just dismissed three pending cert petitions (requests to hear a case) about the Trump administration’s effort to withhold money from so-called sanctuary cities,” the SCOTUSblog Twitter account noted.

…After taking office, Biden rescinded Trump’s 2017 executive order, in another course reversal by the new administration on various Trump policies that had been challenged in court and were heading to the Supreme Court for consideration.

Given Biden’s decision to revoke Trump’s sanctuary city order, which effectively moots the associated policies, the Department of Justice (DOJ) filed letters with the Supreme Court in all three related cases, seeking their dismissal and noting an agreement had been made with the parties that were challenging Trump’s action.

The article concludes:

Last month, the Supreme Court canceled oral arguments in two other cases after Biden changed course from Trump. Both were appeals by the Trump administration—one defending funding of the U.S.-Mexico border wall and the other defending the “remain in Mexico” asylum policy.

The administration also has asked the court to cancel an upcoming argument on a policy introduced under Trump backing work requirements for people who receive healthcare under the Medicaid program for the poor.

The administration last month told the justices the Obamacare healthcare law should be upheld, reversing the position taken under Trump.

Why is the Biden administration telling the Supreme Court what to do?

President Biden Needs To Watch His Words

President Biden, who ran on a promise to re-unite the country has not been doing a very good job of keeping that promise. Some of the remarks he has recently made are totally unacceptable. Townhall posted an article on March 4th about Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s response to some recent remarks by President Biden.

The article reports:

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) has been taking heat from Democrats and progressives after he announced the state will be completely reopening and the mask mandate will be lifted. His actions have caused such a stir that it prompted criticism from President Joe Biden.

Biden, referring to both Texas and Mississippi, said lifting the COVID-19 lockdowns was “neanderthal thinking” and a “big mistake.”

Abbott was asked to respond to Biden’s comments during his interview on “Fox & Friends” on Thursday.

“Two things, Brian, first, obviously it is not the type of thing that a president should be saying, but second, he kind of said it on the worst day he could have. Because the same day he said that, in Texas, the Biden administration was releasing illegal immigrants into our communities who had COVID,” Abbott said.

“The Biden administration was spreading COVID in south Texas yesterday because of their lack of constraint of testing and quarantining, people come across the border illegally. The Biden administration was exposing Texas to COVID,” Abbott continued. “That is a neanderthal type approach dealing with the COVID situation.”

Americans are required to quarantine, wear masks, social distance, etc., while illegal aliens are allowed to freely roam about the country??!! There is something seriously wrong with that picture.

 

Bad Policies Can Be Fatal

One of the first Executive Orders by the Biden administration was to stop construction of the southern border wall. That decision has had consequences, some more serious than others. One sad result of that decision is that it is empowering the coyotes and the cartels.

Yesterday The New York Post reported that at least fifteen people were killed in southern California in a vehicle crash involving a van carrying illegal aliens.

The article reports:

Fifteen suspected illegal Mexican immigrants died in a horrific crash just north of the border in California when their SUV packed with 28 people collided with a big rig hauling gravel, officials said.

The collision happened just after 6:15 a.m. local time off Highway 115 in Imperial County where a red Ford Expedition, carrying 28 people, was t-boned by on the driver’s side big rig, police and hospital officials said.

California Highway Patrol Chief Omar Watson said it was unknown if the SUV had stopped at the stop sign — but it was clear that the overpacked vehicle caused “numerous” passengers to be ejected after the collision.

“Obviously that vehicle was not meant for that many people,” Watson said in a press conference. “It’s unfortunate that that number of people were put into that vehicle because there’s not enough safety restraints to safely keep those people within the vehicle.”

The article concludes:

The driver of the truck was one of the injured and was being treated at a local hospital, authorities said. 

Cops put the number of dead at 13 and counted 25 passengers in the SUV but hospital officials released the updated figures moments before the police press conference. 

Law enforcement and hospital officials said they were in contact with the Mexican Consulate in Calexico to help identify who was in the vehicle and track down the families of those killed. 

Dr. Adolphe Edward, the chief executive of the El Centro hospital, said he believed the passengers were “undocumented migrants,” according to the New York Times

Edward later referred reporters to law enforcement officials, who did not provide their country of origin.

US Border Patrol was assisting in translating, Watson said. 

“We’re not sure exactly what caused the collision but there was no law enforcement involved,” Watson said, explain that it was not connected to any type of Border Patrol pursuit.

Someone was well paid to transport these people into America. Obviously there was little regard for their safety. This is the result of bad border security policy.