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Articles by Stephen Dinan

Vice President Kamala Harris talks to the media, Friday, June 25, 2021, after her tour of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Central Processing Center in El Paso, Texas. Harris visited the U.S. southern border as part of her role leading the Biden administration's response to a steep increase in migration. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Harris on first trip to border: ‘We’ve made progress’

Vice President Kamala Harris said Friday that the Biden administration has "made progress" in trying to gain control of the southern border, even as it tries to pave a more lenient path for migrants rushing to the U.S. in hopes of gaining a foothold.

June 25, 2021
Vice President Kamala Harris and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, second left, visit the Paso del Norte (PDN) Port of Entry in El Paso, Texas, Friday, June 25, 2021. The Paso del Norte Port of Entry is one of the country's busiest pedestrian border crossings. It is located on the Paso Del Norte International Bridge. Thousands of people cross the border through the Port each day.(AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Kamala Harris makes first visit to southern border

Vice President Kamala Harris made her first pilgrimage to the border Friday, watching Border Patrol at work in El Paso handling processing of illegal immigrants, then making a snap visit to a border crossing where aides said she saw other migrants who hoped to claim asylum in the U.S.

June 25, 2021
Shown here is a screen capture from The Penn Hotel Sports & Raw Bar's website. The owner of the establishment took the Biden administration to court, alleging improper discrimination in the way it administered COVID relief funds. (https://www.thepennhotel.com/)

Restaurant that beat Biden in court faces affirmative action backlash

The Cajun wings at the Penn Hotel Sports & Raw Bar had always been a big favorite on Yelp. Now, it seems, all anyone wants to talk about is politics after the establishment's owner sued the Biden administration, alleging discrimination in the manner in which it prioritized COVID-19 relief.

June 24, 2021
A smuggler paddles a small inflatable raft across the Rio Grande from Mexico into the U.S. carrying migrant families in Roma, Texas, Wednesday, March 24, 2021. (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills) ** FILE **

Dollars over danger: Inside the mind of a smuggler

For Cecilio Rios-Quinones, life had always been about money -- and how little he had. Eventually, he and another brother, Ricardo, headed north to Tijuana, where Rito, another brother, was already hooked in with a smuggling organization, guiding people across the border into California. Ricardo and Cecilio were sentenced this spring to 66 months in prison each, and documents from their now-concluded case provide a unique and interesting look at the psychology of a smuggler.

June 23, 2021
A Haitian migrant family looks to emerge from a rocky canal adjacent to a gap in the U.S. border wall in Yuma, Ariz., Wednesday, June 9, 2021. (AP Photo/Eugene Garcia)

Trump’s claims on construction of border wall system undercut by GAO audit

As the former president prepares to make his first trip to the border since leaving office, the Government Accountability Office has delivered a scorching report card on his border wall. It calculated that he completed only 69 miles of the wall system he promised Americans -- not the more than 450 miles he claimed.

June 20, 2021
In this May 12, 2021, photo, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas testifies before the Senate Appropriations committee hearing, on Capitol Hill in Washington. The Biden administration will stop using immigration detention facilities in Massachusetts and Georgia that are the subject of abuse allegations. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Thursday announced that federal authorities will no longer use the jail facilities in Bristol County, Massachusetts and the Irwin County Detention Center in Ocilla, Georgia. (Photo by Bill O'Leary/The Washington Post via AP, Pool)

DHS chief Alejandro Mayorkas bristles at Republicans’ border questions

Republicans stumped Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Thursday over the number of Border Patrol agents who are deployed to the southwestern border, in a testy hearing where he resisted charges that he and the administration have lost control of the boundary.

June 17, 2021
In this Jan. 12, 2021, photo, President Donald Trump tours a section of the U.S.-Mexico border wall in Alamo, Texas. During the Trump administration's final weeks, the Department of Homeland Security quietly signed agreements with at least four states that threaten to temporarily derail President Joe Biden's efforts to undo his predecessor's immigration policies. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) **FILE**

Trump administration cut corners to speed wall money, auditors say

The Army Corps of Engineers cut corners in order to beat deadlines for President Trump's Mexico border wall and get money out the door before it expired, according to an audit Thursday by the Government Accountability Office, which identified $4.3 billion in no-bid contracts for the project.

June 17, 2021
President Joe Biden speaks in the East Room of the White House, Thursday, June 17, 2021, in Washington. The Supreme Court has dismissed a third major challenge to "Obamacare," preserving health insurance coverage for millions of Americans. Though the court has become increasingly conservative with justices nominated by former President Donald Trump, it nonetheless left the entire law intact Thursday. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Biden administration faces record pace of lawsuits

President Biden came out of the starting blocks with the most sweeping agenda of any recent administration -- and he is drawing ferocious resistance in federal courts, where his opponents are filing lawsuits at what appears to be a record pace.

June 17, 2021
Children and adults wait in lines for donated food at a makeshift camp for migrants near the U.S.-Mexico border Friday, May 14, 2021, in Reynosa, Mexico. Growing numbers of migrant families are making the heart-wrenching decision to separate from their children and send them into the U.S. alone. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull) ** FILE **

DHS secretary says Biden policies didn’t cause border surge

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said Thursday that President Biden's policies have nothing to do with the surge in illegal immigrants that has swamped his administration, insisting it's part of normal ups and downs.

June 17, 2021