In Colorado and Wyoming the FBI have issued alerts warning all law enforcement agencies that U.S. Military families are being approached by Middle Eastern men.
“In one case last May the wife of a military member was approached in front of her home by two Middle Eastern males,” according to CBSDenver. “The men stated that she was the wife of a U.S. interrogator. When she denied their claims the men laughed.”
To say she was frightened may be an understatement. Eventually the men left the area but, according to the report, were seen on several occasions in that same area.
It has been reported that incidence like this had also happened in Wyoming thorough out the month of June.
“On numerous occasions, family members of military personnel were confronted by Middle Eastern males in front of their homes,” reports CBS. “The males have attempted to obtain personal information about the military members and family members through intimidations. Those family members reported feeling scared” and understandably so.
Being aware of the incidents, Colorado’s Department of Homeland Security has been urging that any suspicious activities seen by military families be reported immediately to the FBI.
We The People: Welcome toOVERNIGHT REGULATION, your daily rundown of news from Capitol Hill and beyond. It’s Tuesday evening here in Washington and here’s the latest:
THE BIG STORY
Congress should “take control” of the federal regulatory system before it grows out of control, says Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.).
The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs chairman is calling for a “subtractive process” to keep the cost of regulations in check.
“We have over the decades added layer upon layer upon layer of laws and rules and regulations, which are becoming quite burdensome,” Johnson said a joint committee hearing on the cost of regulations. http://1.usa.gov/1NfzF8k “While some of these regulations are necessary to implement the law, some are also beyond the scope of congressional intent and unnecessarily burden businesses and families,” he added.
During the hearing, lawmakers discussed the possibility of a regulatory budget that would limit federal agencies’ rule making abilities.
A regulatory budget would hold federal agencies accountable for the rules they issue by tracking the financial burdens the rules would place on the economy.
With a regulatory budget, the estimated costs of each rule would be added up and capped at a certain amount, curbing regulations from federal agencies.
But Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) dismissed the notion.
“I have some concerns with the idea that an agency’s ability to implement a new rule could depend on it repealing an older one first in order to meet its ‘regulatory budget,’ when in fact the older regulation may still be necessary,” Carper said.
“Or maybe even worse, an agency may delay implementing a much-needed rule because an offset can’t be found,” he added.
Carper touted the benefits created by regulations.
“Every time we go to the bank, drive a car, or take a breath of clean air or a drink of clean water, we are enjoying the benefits of regulations,” Carper said.
ON TAP FOR WEDNESDAY
The House Education and Workforce Committee’s Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education Subcommittee will hold a hearing to discuss child nutrition assistance programs and look at the cost of compliance for states and schools. http://1.usa.gov/1BskHdC
The House Ways and Means Committee will hold a hearing to discuss rising health insurance premiums under ObamaCare.http://1.usa.gov/1Nh7R3I
The House Science, Space and Technology’s Environment Subcommittee and Energy Subcommittee will hold a hearing on the U.S. Energy Information Administration Report: Analysis of the Impacts of the EPA’s Clean Power Plan. http://1.usa.gov/1GFKazt
TOMORROW’S REGS TODAY
The Obama administration will publish 159 new regulations, proposed rules, notices, and other administrative actions in Wednesday’s edition of the Federal Register.
Here’s what to watch for:
–The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) will propose to loosen privacy rules for car dealers.
Car dealers are required to provide customers with an annual disclosure of their privacy policies, either by hand delivery, mail, or email. But the FTC is proposing to allow these companies to post the notices on their websites, instead of delivering them individually, to customers who give their consent.
Hotlines have been set up for illegal immigrants by Homeland Security. These hotlines are to ensure that, under President Obama’s amnesty policy, illegal immigrants have a place to voice their concerns.
“Please tell us about your experience,” and let us know if you were treated “contrary to the new DHS enforcement priorities,” stated the memo about the new complaint line. Border Protection and U.S. Customs wants to know how you, illegal immigrant, are being treated.
Obama’s amnesty policy “grants tentative legal status to up to 4 million illegal immigrants and orders Border Patrol agents and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents not to arrest other illegal immigrants who say they have been hiding in the U.S. for years but don’t meet the criteria for full amnesty,” reports The Washington Times.
Understandably, Border Patrol agents are upset. “Instead of supporting our agents, this administration has decided it is more important to find new ways to solicit complaints and invite ridicule against them,” stated Vice President of the National Border Patrol Council,Shawn Moran. “We demand that this administration spend more time defending the men and women defending our nation and less time promoting the extreme agendas of pro-illegal-immigration organizations.”
The agents have a great point. How are they to do their job of enforcing immigration laws when illegal immigrants simply have to cry foul? Even Immigration Rights Advocates have concerns about the effectiveness of this kind of program stating they are not sure if ‘complaints have proved effective’ and they doubt the ability of the different departments to effectively ‘investigate complaints again itself.’
The tables have drastically turned and border patrol agents find themselves questioning their job description because the guidelines being set forth by the Obama administration “indicate that agents should not bother pursuing illegal immigrants who don’t have serious criminal records or aren’t recent illegal immigrants, meaning those who arrived in the U.S. since Jan. 1, 2014,” according to The Washington Times.
Hotlines set up for illegal immigrants to make sure they are treated correctly, courtesy of President Obama. How about we set up hotlines for every other group of individuals who break the law to make sure they are being treated well? That would make about as much sense.
Comment by Jim Campbell, Citizen Journalist Oath Keeper and Patriot.
Long on time-consuming rhetoric and short on balls, Obama has done it again.
Set’s up new Division of Homeland “Insecurity,” to take the fall.
This one could be subtitled: Obama screws his home boys.
National Archives official confirms shocker – no such filing exists
(Tea Party) – Is it possible that President Obama just pulled a fast one, setting up Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson to be a candidate for impeachment?
This move would mean that instead of Obama, Jeh would take the fall if conservatives convince the Republican majorities in the House and the Senate that the “executive actions” on immigration are unconstitutional.
The question being asked: Where are the executive orders Obama was supposed to have signed which would permit up to 5 million parents of young illegal aliens to remain in the United States for three years?
As it stands, the White House appears to have pulled a fast one and engaged in a smoke and mirrors move worthy of an Oscar by changing U.S. immigration law not actually by executive order but instead through a memorandum “exercising prosecutorial discretion” that DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson signed the day of Obama’s Nov. 20 nationwide address and which as not, as of yet, been filed in the Federal Register.
Entire article below.
In an interview with news media WND, the president of Washington-based watchdog institution Judicial Watch, Tom Fitton, explained that the legal status of Johnson’s memo is a serious constitutional question and it deserves to be adjudicated. According to Fitton:o be a true Patriot. Support the Tea Party Constitution Fund.
“The entire implementing authority involves a memorandum published by DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson that changes the immigration law, directing federal money to be spent that has not been appropriated by Congress.”
“In my view, there is a serious question whether Jeh Johnson should be impeached for taking this action, and a criminal investigation should be initiated to determine how and why federal funds are being misappropriated.”
Fitton also stated that the DHS “is being hijacked to implement actions Congress has neither authorized nor appropriated funds to accomplish.” In addition, Fitton said, “All remedy options need to be on the table when attacking this threat to the Constitution.”
This week, 17 states joined in a lawsuit that was filed by Texas attorney general and governor-elect Greg Abbott. The lawsuit charges that Obama’s immigration action violated the U.S. Constitution’s “Take Care” clause and that it failed to follow the Administrative Procedure Act’s guidelines for implementing new policies, including a comment period to outline the changes’ benefits, National Review’s Andrew Johnson reported.
In his statement Abbot said the president “is abdicating his responsibility to faithfully enforce laws that were duly enacted by Congress and attempting to rewrite immigration laws, which he has no authority to do — something the president himself has previously admitted.”
Joining Texas in the lawsuit are Alabama, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, North Carolina, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
In a big show of pomp and circumstance the White House put President Obama’s trip to Las Vegas Nov. 21, in the limelight. Obama was expected to sign two executive orders that would revise his Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA. But after closely examining the executive actions Obama actually signed, it showed they had nothing to do with implementing the move announced in his Nov. 20 White House address to the nation.
On the White House website it stated that on Nov. 21 Obama signed a presidential proclamation titled “Creating Welcoming Communities Fully Integrating Immigrants and Refugees” along with a presidential memorandum titled “Modernizing and Streamlining the U.S. Immigration Visa System for the 21st Century.”
“Creating Welcoming Communities Fully Integrating Immigrants and Refugees,” filed Nov. 26 in the Federal Register created a White House Task Force on New Americans to “engage with community, business, and faith leaders, as well as State and local elected officials.” This task force is expected to “help determine additional steps the Federal Government can take to ensure its programs and policies are serving diverse communities that include new Americans.”
Presidential action number two, “Modernizing and Streamlining the U.S. Immigration Visa System for the 21st Century,” empowers the secretaries of State and Homeland Security, in consultation with the director of the Office of Management and Budget, the director of the National Economic Council, the assistant to the president for homeland security and counterterrorism, the director of the Domestic Policy Council, the director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, the attorney general, and the secretaries of Agriculture, Commerce, Labor and Education, to make a series of recommendations “to reduce government costs, improve services for applicants, reduce burdens on employers, and combat waste, fraud, and abuse in the system” of issuing immigrant and non-immigrant visas.
There is only one document from the Obama administration that is even relevant to altering DACA which would accommodate the legislative changes Obama announced on Nov. 21. That document is a DHS memorandum signed by DHS Secretary Johnson titled “Exercising Prosecutorial Discretion with Respect to Individuals Who Came to the United States as Children with Respect to Certain Individuals Who Are the Parents of U.S. Citizens or Permanent Residents.”
Listed in the Federal Register are 26 executive orders signed by President Obama this year, with the most recent being “Improving the Security of Consumer Financial Transactions.” That order was signed Oct. 17 and on Oct. 23 it was published in the Federal Register. The last item DHS filed in the Federal Register that was relevant to DACA was on April 4 and it was a form revision having nothing to do with the actions Obama announced Nov. 20.
Who holds the authority?
In his interview, Fitton told WND, “What is clear is that Jeh Johnson was the vehicle chosen by the Obama administration to extend temporary residency status and work authorization to millions of illegal immigrants currently in the country.”
The “Guide to the Federal Rulemaking Process” that is published by the Office of the Federal Register specifies that agencies “get their authority to issue regulations from laws (statutes) enacted by Congress.”
And, it goes on to say:
The president may delegate existing presidential authority to an agency in some cases. When Congress passes a law to create an agency, it grants that agency the general authority to regulate certain activities that occur in society. Congress may also pass a law specifically directing an agency to solve a specific problem or accomplish a particular goal.
It also states, however, that an agency must not take action that extends past its statutory authority or that violates the Constitution. When agencies issue regulations they are required to follow an open public process, according to the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). Part of the process includes publishing a statement of rulemaking authority in the Federal Register for all proposed and final rules.
The Nov. 20 implementing memo from Johnson is technically announcing a decision to exercise prosecutorial discretion, not a change in rules.
According to Johnson’s memo, “Deferred action is a long-standing administrative mechanism dating back decades, by which the Secretary of Homeland Security may defer the removal of an undocumented immigrant for a period of time.”
Fitton points out that the question is whether or not the Johnson memo is subject to public comment provisions. He stated, “This is a legal question given the impact of the Johnson memo is to stop effectively deportations of illegal immigrants that have been in the United States prior to Jan. 1, 2010, and are parents of children who are U.S. citizens or legal U.S. residents.”
In Johnson’s memo he attempts to make the deferred prosecution decision for the DACA program the equivalent of an executive action taken by two recent Republican presidents.
“A form of administrative relief similar to deferred action, known then as ‘indefinite voluntary departure,’ was originally authorized by the Reagan and Bush administrations to defer the deportations of an estimated 1.5 million undocumented spouses and minor children who did not qualify for legalization under the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986,” the memo said “Known as the ‘Family Fairness’ program, the policy was specifically implemented to promote the humane enforcement of the law and ensure family unity.”
The memo further attempts to distinguish deferred action from rulemaking by making note of the temporary aspects of the prosecutorial discretion involved:
“Deferred action is a form of prosecutorial discretion by which the Secretary deprioritizes an individual’s case for humanitarian reasons, administrative convenience, or in the interest of the Department’s overall enforcement mission. As an act of prosecutorial discretion, deferred action is legally available so long as it is granted on a case-by-case basis, and it may be terminated at any time at the agency’s discretion. Deferred action does not confer any form of legal status in this country, much less citizenship; it simply means that, for a specified period of time, an individual is permitted to be lawfully present in the United States. Nor can deferred action itself lead to a green card.”
The memo does acknowledge that the actions taken in regard to DACA are not specifically authorized in any legislation passed by Congress and signed into law by the president.
While deferred action is not expressly conferred by statute, the practice is referenced and therefore endorsed by implication in several federal statutes.
Fitton said that while Obama is maintaining that his administration has issued executive orders “just as prior administrations have done,” he’s now saying the memo signed by Johnson ‘”changed the law.”
On Nov. 20 after his announcement and during a speech in Chicago, Obama boasted to hecklers, “I took action to change the law.” When confronted by reporters regarding the statement, White House press secretary Josh Earnest insisted the president was “speaking colloquially.”
On Tuesday, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson admitted to Congress that a judge released two of four terrorists caught by Homeland Security officials earlier this year.
Johnson, who was under intense scrutiny from Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), admitted that the two terrorists made their way through the United States, before eventually settling in Canada.
“They were in deportation proceedings, and an immigration judge released two of the four…my intent was that they were deported, but two of them are in Canada seeking asylum,” Johnson said.
“I’m not sure of their exact whereabouts,” Johnson told Chaffetz, who was championing for increased border security.
Johnson later said that he doesn’t get involved in individual immigration cases, and questioned whether the state department should categorize the two men as terrorists.
According to the Washington Times, Canadian officials wouldn’t comment on the exact whereabouts of the two terrorists, but reminded that they would never grant such people amnesty.
Sacramento County Sheriff Scott Jones laid into President Obama over immigration reform in a recently posted video, telling the story of two of his deputies who were killed by an illegal immigrant who had already been deported twice.
Jones did not blame Obama for the deaths, but used their example to show why meaningful immigration reform is necessary.
“Only you are singularly responsible for the hands-off policy that exists within Homeland Security and its subsidiaries, including the Customs and Border Protection,” the sheriff said. “They don’t need a raise to improve morale, they need to be allowed to do their job.”
“This is not about racism,” he added. “It is about an increasingly violent and uncertain world in which we are inadequately protected.”
Jones said that securing the border and providing documentation are the first steps that need to be taken.
The president is set to announce his immigration blueprint today.
Homeland Security to Tell Local Cops When Immigrant Criminals Are Freed
Josh Siegel
by tomfernandez28: The Department of Homeland Security is developing an automated system to alert state and local law enforcement when illegal immigrants with serious criminal records are released into their jurisdictions.
Two members of Congress from Texas — Sen. John Cornyn, a Republican, and Rep. Beto O’Rourke, a Democrat — described the plan in a letter sent yesterday to Thomas Winkowski, acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The Associated Press first reported the contents of the letter, which The Daily Signal also obtained.
In the letter, Cornyn and O’Rourke say they were told about the notification system last month by a senior ICE official.
The letter doesn’t provide details of how the notification system would work or when it will be launched.
>>> Obama Administration Released Over 600 Illegal Immigrants With Criminal Convictions
Lawmakers previously criticized ICE for releasing convicted criminals facing deportation from immigration jails.
According to AP, during the 2013 budget year, ICE released 36,007 such criminal immigrants, including those convicted of 193 homicides and 426 sexual assaults.
Cornyn and O’Rourke wrote to Winkowski with questions about the process by which ICE releases such convicts.
WASHINGTON (CBS DC) – Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson warns that some parents of Central American children attempting to cross the U.S. border illegally already know of the risks, noting that some girls are given birth control “in case they’re raped along the way.”
Speaking with the Senate Appropriations Committee last week, Johnson joined the Obama administration in attempting to warn Central American parents to stop sending their children on the dangerous route to entering the U.S. illegally. But Johnson said that he’s met with children and heard stories that some parents are very aware of the risks along the route.
“I’ve met with enough of these kids now, including a 15-year-old in Nogales two weeks ago, who was three months pregnant, to have a real sense for what these kids go through,” Johnson told Congress. “We’ve heard about how before they leave Central America, some of these kids’ parents actually will give them birth control in case they’re raped along the way.”
Adding to the horror stories often associated with drug cartel “coyotes,” Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said that some of the unaccompanied minors were raped by cartel members.
“When they initially arrived in the United States, they were very quiet and they didn’t open up,” said Durbin of a pair of immigrant siblings named Samuel and Emily. “They were clearly victims of trauma. After two months of care and custody of these 3- and 6-year-old children by HHS, Emily revealed that both children had been raped by members of a local drug cartel.”
Durbin continued: “I think about those children when I think about this debate. Are they the exception? God, I pray they are. But I’m afraid there are many more with similar stories.”
Durbin added that President Barack Obama’s $3.7 billion emergency spending request to help deal with the immigration influx does not include funds “to provide the kind of representation and advocacy to protect these kids.”
The U.S. Border Patrol apprehended more than 57,000 children at the Mexican border since last October, with a majority of the unaccompanied minors travelling from Central American countries such as El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. Recent reports include stories of “small, lifeless bodies” washing up along the banks of the Rio Grande of children who did not survive the dangerous attempt to cross into the U.S.
Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Sen. Barbara Mikulski said that Border Patrol agents are discovering immigrant minors who are “dehydrated, malnourished, scared” and often abused by human traffickers who provide the children false promises of transport.The White House is meeting resistance from both sides of the aisle over its border money request.
Chairman Goodlatte, Ranking Member Conyers, and Members of this Committee, thank you for the opportunity to testify today.
The cornerstone of our mission at the Department of Homeland Security has been, and should continue to be, counterterrorism – that is, protecting the nation against terrorist attacks. As a New Yorker who was present in Manhattan on 9/11, it is what most motivates my public service. We must remain vigilant in detecting and preventing future terrorist threats that may seek to penetrate the homeland from the land, sea or air.
While many of the leaders of core al-Qaeda (as we knew it after 9/11) are dead or captured, the terrorist threat has evolved, and still persists. Since about 2009, we have seen the rise ofal-Qaeda affiliates, such as al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. AQAP, in particular, has made repeated efforts to export terrorism to our homeland…
August 5, 2015
The Silent Soldier 