Skip to content
TRENDING:
Iran
Advertisement

Articles by Stephen Dinan

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers would be taken off the streets and become criminal investigators under a reorganization plan by Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. (Associated Press)

Alejandro Mayorkas plan would abolish ICE effectively

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has floated a plan to reorganize the federal deportation agency to the point where it's not doing much arresting and deporting from inside the country anymore.

February 21, 2021
A national guardsman patrols the Mexican side of the Rio Bravo on the border with the U.S. in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua state, Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2021, in this file photo. (AP Photo/Christian Chavez) **FILE**

Migrant smugglers take advantage of Texas deep freeze

One consequence of the cold snap that's engulfed much of Texas is that some migrant smugglers are figuring it's the right time to try to sneak people north out of the border areas, figuring the Border Patrol has its hands full with other duties. Customs and Border Protection says it has recorded 15 migrant deaths in Texas so far this month, and seven of those have been blamed on exposure to the cold.

February 20, 2021
Migrants walk on train tracks on their journey from Central America to the U.S. border., in Palenque, Chiapas state, Mexico, Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2021. (AP Photo/Isabel Mateos)

Joe Biden’s immigration plan speeds legalization, lags on border security

President Biden's immigration bill cancels penalties for future illegal immigrants, speeds legalization of those already here and increases legal immigration levels. But the bill, which lawmakers will officially introduce on Capitol Hill on Thursday, backtracks on new border security and worksite enforcement compromises that have long been seen as key parts of any serious attempt to overhaul the immigration system.

February 18, 2021
In this Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2017, file photo released by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, foreign nationals are arrested during a targeted enforcement operation conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) aimed at immigration fugitives, re-entrants and at-large criminal aliens in Los Angeles. (Charles Reed/U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement via AP) ** FILE **

ICE almost released sex offenders under new deportation guidance: GOP

ICE canceled deportation requests for three convicted child sex offenders and was about to release them into communities until Texas law enforcement officials intervened and forced a reversal, two ranking Republicans charged in a letter Wednesday demanding answers from the agency's chief.

February 17, 2021
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., fields questions from reporters about an impeachment trial in the Senate shortly after Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., announced House Democrats are pushing ahead with formal charges against President Donald Trump saying he has put U.S. elections and national security at risk, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2019. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Donald Trump rips Mitch McConnell, promises MAGA primary challengers

Former President Donald Trump unloaded on Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday, calling him a "dour, sullen, and unsmiling political hack," saying Republicans cannot win with him at the party's helm, and vowing to support candidates who will challenge GOP lawmakers in primaries.

February 16, 2021
In this July 18, 2019, photo, people walk back to Mexico on International Bridge 1 Las Americas, a legal port of entry that connects Laredo, Texas in the U.S. with Nuevo Laredo, Mexico. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte) **FILE**

DHS border officer caught smuggling illegal immigrant: Feds

A Homeland Security officer who works at a Texas border crossing used her job to smuggle a woman into the country under false pretenses to work as a housekeeper, internal affairs investigators said in charging documents.

February 16, 2021
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., leaves the Capitol at the conclusion of the second day of the second impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2021. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Bernie Sanders $15 minimum wage would affect budget, CBO says

The Congressional Budget Office has given a boost to Sen. Bernard Sanders' push to use the budget process to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour with a new analysis Monday showing the move would have significant effects throughout the federal fiscal picture.

February 15, 2021
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of Calif., with impeachment managers Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., and Rep. Joe Neguse, D-Colo., speaks to members of the media during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, after the U.S. Senate voted not guilty, to acquit former President Donald Trump of inciting riot at U.S. Capitol, ending impeachment trial, Saturday, Feb. 13, 2021. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Pelosi announces commission to probe Capitol attack

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Monday she will create a "9/11-type" commission to investigate last month's attack on the U.S. Capitol, saying the country needs a full account of what went wrong if it is to regain its sense of security.

February 15, 2021