Skip to content
TRENDING:
Donald Trump

Articles by Stephen Dinan

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 **

DHS to revoke visas, freeze assets on smugglers

Fed up with watching smugglers drop children from the Border Wall or dumping them in the roiling waters of the Rio Grande, Homeland Security said Tuesday it was kicking off a new operation to identify and slap penalties on them, including revoking visas and freezing assets in U.S. banks.

April 27, 2021
The U.S. Capitol dome is seen, Monday, July 9, 2018, in Washington. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) ** FILE **

Red states see gains as census shifts House seats

Political power shifted slightly from blue to red states Monday as the Census Bureau announced how seats in the U.S. House will be divvied up for the next decade, giving Texas two more seats and Florida one seat, while California and New York each lost a seat.

April 26, 2021
People enjoy a sunny day in Times Square in New York, Wednesday, March 10, 2021. After the virus descended on New York, the only sounds in the streets were wailing ambulance sirens. A year after the pandemic began, the nation’s largest metropolis -- with a lifeblood based on round-the-clock hustle and bustle, push and pull -- is adapting and showing new life. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

U.S. population at 331,449,281

The official U.S. population in 2020 was 331,449,281, up 7.4% from a decade earlier, the Census Bureau announced Monday.

April 26, 2021
In this Oct. 15, 2020 file photo, Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, speaks with an aide during the confirmation hearing for Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett, before the Senate Judiciary Committee, on Capitol Hill in Washington. The incumbent Republican is running for the Senate for Texas. (Greg Nash/Pool via AP, File)

Senate GOP embraces voluntary ban on earmarks

As Congress took more steps toward restarting the earmark factory this week, experts said strict limits on the number and types of requests for special spending projects will be critical to preventing the goof-ups of the past.

April 21, 2021
Protesters lit a portable bathroom on fire in downtown Portland, Ore., Friday, April 16, 2021. Police in Portland, Oregon, said Saturday they arrested four people after declaring a riot Friday night when protesters smashed windows, burglarized businesses and set multiple fires during demonstrations that started after police fatally shot a man while responding to reports of a person with a gun. (Dave Killen/The Oregonian via AP)

DHS acted legally in sending reinforcements to fight Portland riots: Audit

The Trump administration acted within the law when it deployed Border Patrol agents and other law enforcement to Portland, Oregon, last year to protect the federal courthouse, an inspector general ruled Wednesday -- but he said Homeland Security should have done a better job coordinating their efforts.

April 21, 2021
In this March 1, 2021, photo, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas speaks during a press briefing at the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik) ** FILE **

DHS expands guest-worker visas amid pandemic downturn

Homeland Security announced Tuesday that it will issue up to 22,000 additional guest-worker permits this year for foreigners to work in nonfarm seasonal jobs such as beach resorts and amusement parks.

April 20, 2021
Vice President Kamala Harris arrives to speak at Guilford Technical Community College, Monday, April 19, 2021, in Jamestown, N.C., about the Biden administration's American Jobs Plan. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

GOP leaders ask for border meeting with VP Kamala Harris

Top House Republicans with oversight over the border surge asked Monday to talk over options with Vice President Kamala Harris, suggesting a meeting this month to try to figure out ways to solve what they called an "unprecedented border catastrophe."

April 19, 2021
FILE - In this March 30, 2021, file photo, a little girl is helped off an inflatable raft by a church volunteer after being smuggled across the Rio Grande river in Roma, Texas. Roma, a town of 10,000 people with historic buildings and boarded-up storefronts in Texas' Rio Grande Valley, is the latest epicenter of illegal crossings, where growing numbers of families and children are entering the United States to seek asylum. U.S. officials are scrambling to handle a dramatic spike in children crossing the U.S.-Mexico border alone. (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills, File)

Fake families swarm border; none prosecuted

Fake families plagued border authorities during the 2019 surge, and experts say they are pouring through again. Yet the Homeland Security Department's use of DNA testing to validate family relationships has plummeted more than 90% this year, according to the latest statistics.

April 18, 2021
White House press secretary Jen Psaki takes a question from a reporter during a press briefing in the White House in Washington, Friday, April 16, 2021. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

White House retreats on Biden’s refugee promise

White House press secretary Jen Psaki signaled a retreat Friday from President Biden's goal of allowing up to 62,500 refugees into the country in 2021, saying that now seems "unlikely."

April 16, 2021