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An illegal immigrant accused of abandoning her baby in a bathroom trash can at a California park was arrested Thursday and told law enforcement that the baby was conceived after she was raped in Guatemala, police said.

The 22-year-old woman, whose name has not been released for safety reasons, admitted to investigators that she gave birth to the child June 9, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. She abandoned the newborn two days later at a park in Lynwood, California, out of fear, she said.

VIDEO SHOWS YOUNG CHILD ABANDONED BY SMUGGLERS AT SOUTHERN BORDER

A neighbor of the woman was asked to review the surveillance video of the suspect and identified the young mother.

"The sheriffs department has received many inquiries about adopting this baby, including from our own personnel," said Lt. John Adams of the LASD Special Victims Bureau. "Weve had detectives here at our unit, weve had fire personnel, weve had nurses that treated this baby at the hospital inquire about adoption. Needless to say, this baby is quite the celebrity at this point."

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

Los Angeles County has a Baby Safe Surrender program, which means that a mother can surrender her baby at any fire station or hospital in the county legally with no questions asked.

Her bail is set at $100,000 for suspicion of cruelty to a child likely to produce great bodily injury or death.

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Tags: News, Los Angeles, California, Crime, Immigration, Guatemala, Law Enforcement, Law, Rape

Original Author: Haley Victory Smith

Original Location: Illegal immigrant accused of abandoning baby in trash can says she was raped before coming to US: Police

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Illegal immigrant accused of abandoning baby in trash can says she was raped before coming to US: Police - Yahoo News

This is a rush transcript from "The Ingraham Angle," June 25, 2021. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

LAURA INGRAHAM, FOX NEWS HOST: I'm Laura Ingraham and this is a special edition of the "Ingraham Angle" from Washington. A week in an hour.

Now, four months after the FBI raided his apartment and took all of his devices, a 69-year-old resident who wasn't even at the Capitol on January 6, is still suffering. He's still not gotten his devices back. He's been shunned by his community and has even suffered two strokes. You're going to hear his harrowing story tonight.

But first, Kamala can't and won't. That's the focus of tonight's "Angle".

Today, Vice President Harris traveled to Texas to check the border box and play a game of make believe.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It is important to be clear, it is working to build a fair and a functional and a humane immigration system. We feel very strongly about that. And as you know, we inherited a tough situation. And in five months, we've made progress. But there's still much more work to be done, but we've made progress.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Progress? Lies and more lies. Number one, she and Biden were not handed a tough situation on the border. They created a disaster on the border. They did. Thanks to Trump's remain in Mexico policy, and, of course, aggressive interior enforcement. Illegal border crossings were driven way down under Trump.

And number two, by progress she means a total abdication, because most Americans define progress at the border as a reduction in the number of illegal crossers. But for Biden and Harris, I guess it's kind of right. Progress means an increase in crossings, regardless of the harm and cost to the American people.

Now, this is - I like to call these open borders collusion at the highest levels of our government. The Biden administration is committing an ongoing crime against our basic sovereignty, a conspiracy to undermine the rule of law, and their refusal to do what works to stem the flow of humanity into America.

Now, this fiscal year alone, Border Patrol has intercepted nearly 1 million migrant crossers at our southern border. We don't even know how many of them have been released either into the interior part of the country. But you know that number has to be staggering.

If Harris were a serious person who actually put America's interest first, she would have traveled to where the action is in the Rio Grande Valley. But of course, that would have been too embarrassing and revealing, because there the border arrests stand at a whopping 271,000 and counting this fiscal year. So of course, Kamala Harris decided to skip that region, and instead visit El Paso, which has 2.5 times fewer border arrests, and just for good measure, a Democrat mayor.

Now, everything I saw today was border theater, from beginning to end. There's nothing serious about enforcement, and she was always in search of mythic "root causes".

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: The work that we have to do is the work of addressing the cause, the root causes. I'm very excited about the potential as we have talked with these congressional leaders and the Secretary, the focus that we have placed on the root causes. You can't just react to a problem without solving it at its roots.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Now, everyone knows that root causes is just Washington's way of saying, we have no intention of solving the problem. And despite the gravity of all of this, Harris was only on site for about six hours in Texas. And much of that time was spent glad handing at the illegal crossing hotspot known as the El Paso International Airport.

Now, of course, the veep spun a totally fictional version of events today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How did you decide that right now was the right time to make your first trip to the border?

HARRIS: Well, it's not my first trip. I've been to the border many times.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As the person in charge of the response.

HARRIS: I said back in March, I was going to come to the border. So this is not a new plan.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: If her dissembling weren't so infuriating, it would be absolutely hilarious, because with so much time having passed, the Vice President's border (inaudible) is kind of just a sideshow at this point. It's a distraction from the real story. Because while she embarrassed herself in El Paso, the Biden DHS is moving full steam ahead on dismantling our border protections and immigration system.

Just days ago, they notified Congress that they were going to release tens of thousands of illegals into the interior of the country, who were previously denied entry under the remain in Mexico program. So we're going to pluck them out of Mexico, bring them back and release them. Isn't that nice?

That's not all. Just today Biden's team is furiously trying to figure out how to rescind the Trump era policy that allows for the immediate rejection of illegal border crossers due to COVID, because they care so much about COVID. This outrage aligns perfectly with something Harris said today about what our obligations are as a country.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: We have a responsibility and if we ignore that responsibility, it will visit itself upon us in a very domestic way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: She was talking there about the region, Central America and Mexico. So apparently, our responsibility is to other countries. Thus, not only will the middle class and all Americans, frankly, be hit with a higher cost of living because of inflation now, but you can also expect wages to stagnate as well. All because Biden bowed to the business lobby in the far left, of course, and they are fine with having a glut of workers because a glut of workers in the United States keeps wages flat. Certainly, keeps them from rising.

So once again, we see the ugly truth about today's Democrats. Although Kamala Harris was put in charge of the border issue, she not only can't do it, because she's in way over her head, she won't do it. Because shutting down illegal border crossers means putting America first. And why should they ever want to put a systematically racist country first? That doesn't make any sense.

They don't think it's their responsibility to try to lift your standard of living, or ensure your schools are functional, or to make sure your streets are safe. Because if they did, they would do whatever it took to secure that southern border. And instead, their goal is to fundamentally transform our nation and its culture. So those borders, you bet, keep them wide open.

They're only going to care about the border, about enforcement, when they see that their actions, or in this case, inaction, has really cost them votes. And very soon, it will be time to make them pay. And that's the "Angle".

All right. Here now, Texas lieutenant governor, Dan Patrick; and Richard Guerra, a rancher from Del Rio, Texas, where we were a few years back.

Dan, let me start with you. Now, Harris spent the majority of her time at the airport, didn't even travel to the border. Your response to today's border theater.

DAN PATRICK, LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR OF TEXAS: And it was border theater, Laura. I realized that the Secretary of Homeland Security Mayorkas has changed his title and didn't tell us the secretary of root causes, because that's all they talked about today. And the true root cause of the nearly 1 million people that we've apprehended so far and the millions more than have crossed over that we haven't caught, the root cause of the border problem is Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. Because Trump had the border really under control in the last year of his presidency.

The policies he put in place, like returning people to Mexico really worked. And they talked about a broken system to date, and they broke it. They broke it. And it's purposefully that they broke it. To hear her talk about, we have to be concerned about the children and the families and their suffering. How about American children and American families and the suffering here of anyone killed by someone here illegally? This was disgraceful. It was almost a joke, except it's so serious.

INGRAHAM: It was an insult, it was an insult.

PATRICK: And what's with the mask by the way? What's with the mask? We're not New York, we're not Washington D.C. You know, we're not wearing masks down here. The whole - it was a whole show, Laura. It was just ridiculous and absurd and nothing. The biggest pile of political BS I've ever seen. And it was just a joke and it's sad that they don't understand.

INGRAHAM: Richard, what about a sense of humanity for Americans who own property along the border like you?

RICHARD GUERRA, TEXAS RANCH OWNER: I'm a rancher. I'm a cattleman. But when they come across, they do a lot of damages. They tear up our fences, they commingle the cattle, and they bring fever ticks, and they contaminate our property. Well, in fact, what they do, they trespass. Trespassing is illegal in the state of Texas and, in fact, in the United States of America.

So it is a problem. And I don't care whether they want to sugarcoat it or not, it is a problem. And I agree that the root cause of all of this is at the White House. Not here. They need to come to the Rio Grande Valley. In fact, I invite them to come to my ranch.

INGRAHAM: Well, Dan, I don't think actually after watching this spectacle today, Biden could live at the border for six months and set up an entire border White House, ok. That wouldn't matter one bit. They know - you don't think they know what's going on in your ranch, Richard? You don't think they know what's going on with all these kids dying in the desert and prostitution, trafficking, drugs? They know exactly what they're doing. And they're doing it anyway. Dan, the question is why? Why, Dan? Why are they doing it?

PATRICK: Well, they're doing it, Laura, because they want to turn these young people who are coming across the border and the older people are coming across the border into citizens, into voters. That's what this is all about over the next several years or the next decade. They want to take over this country on the backs of these people that are crossing the border to turn them into Democrat voters.

That's what it's about. It's all about power. They don't care about children of America, families of America, Police officers in America, victims of crime in America, those who are taking fentanyl and dying from it, or hooked on drugs. They don't care about Americans, and they don't care about these people crossing the border who end up in cantinas, in prostitution, or massage parlors, or sex trafficking, or if they're working for a job, they're taking cash under the table, sending a third of it back to the cartels.

The cartels are sitting there thinking the Biden-Harris administration are good for business, because the cartels are in the business of smuggling people into America. This is disgraceful. And this is why we have to build a wall in Texas, Laura. I mean, we're serious about this, because today proved they have no intention whatsoever to do anything about security for this country and for our state. And we're not going to put up with it.

GUERRA: I commend Governor Abbott and lieutenant governor for taking the initiative to do something about this.

INGRAHAM: Well, they care about this country, unlike the people running the country who think it's a systemically racist and rotten and evil country.

Gentlemen, thank you, both of you tonight.

PATRICK: Thank you, Laura.

INGRAHAM: And there was a jarring comment from Congresswoman Veronica Escobar upon greeting Kamala Harris at the El Paso airport today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. VERONICA ESCOBAR (D-TX): Welcome to El Paso. Welcome to my community, to the new Ellis Island, to the Capitol of the border. I have a heart full of gratitude because we finally have an administration willing to tackle the big challenges. Willing to tackle challenges in a meaningful, thoughtful, strategic, compassionate way, and understanding what's driving people from their home, what's making them arrive at our nation's front door.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Joining me now, Victor Davis Hanson, Hoover Institution, Senior Fellow. Victor, the Ellis Island of 2021. Tee off on that for a moment.

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON, SENIOR FELLOW, HOOVER INSTITUTE: Yes. Every element of that comparison is pathetic, Laura. Ellis Island, everybody came legally from 1890 to 1924. It was legal, legal. And they came with - they were audited. They were authenticated. They were people who gave them health checks.

People come in across the Rio Grande, especially at El Paso in the state of Texas. They're coming for the most part illegally. We don't have any idea in the middle of a pandemic, whether they've been vaccinated, probably not, or whether they're active carriers. 5,000 border and customs patrol officers have been infected. They were diverse at LSI. And they came from all over the world.

This is just one group of Spanish speaking people. It's not diverse like Ellis Island. And they came with the expectation, Laura, to assimilate rapidly, to integrate, to intermarry. That's not the message we're giving these immigrants that are coming illegally. We're telling them that they were part of a tribal identity. It's what's happening in America.

And they came in - and people forget about Ellis Island, it was measured. I know that some years, days, they might have 5000 or 6000. But over that 36- year-period, there was about 12 million people who arrived here. We're getting up to 2 million, so we're getting six to seven times more per year across the southern border than we did through Ellis Island. Every element of that comparison is just factually wrong. And it's kind of insulting to the people who follow the rules, our grandparents, our great grandparents, our parents, they did that. It's really sickening.

INGRAHAM: Yes. My grandparents on my mom's side came through Ellis Island, and I remember hearing some of those distant stories and it took my breath away, that comparison. Now I want to play something else that Harris said today at the border.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: I strongly believe that most people don't want to leave home. And when they do, it is because either they are fleeing some harm, or because to stay means that they cannot provide for the basic necessities of their family.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Victor, well, first of all, that doesn't qualify them for asylee status in the United States. She doesn't even know the law and she's supposedly this great lawyer. That's not persecution that's under one of the causes listed under the asylum statute.

HANSON: Yes. And that's also a lie. We have pupils, Laura, that are taken frequently and usually Mexico alone, people pull about. 50 percent of the Mexican population says, if given the opportunity or chance they would move to the United States immediately. Half the country, 55 million, 60 million people would come. If you open the borders, all of Central America and Mexico would come, because for all the criticism of America, we're a constitutional state with individual liberty and we kind of allow people to be prosperous, secure and happy in a way that's impossible in their homeland.

So they would all come. And yet that's the big disconnect, isn't it? The left says this is a terrible country, and then they can't explain why everybody wants to come to a racist country. And that's because they don't even believe their own rhetoric. They're so cynical.

INGRAHAM: Victor, thank you. Great to see you.

And coming up the shocking story of how the FBI sweeping January 6 investigation is wrongfully turning up a number of people, including a man who spent his life serving others in his community.

Joseph Bolanos joins us in moments to tell us how the FBI ruined his life and his health. Next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

INGRAHAM: Two decades ago, after terrorists brought down the Twin Towers, Joseph Bolanos rose to the occasion. He served as a Red Cross volunteer after 9/11. But his incredible public service doesn't end there. Joseph spent decades heading his Upper West Side block association. He looked out for neighbors during the pandemic, supplied them with PPE. He raised morale with weekly street dances for essential workers.

On top of that, he was awarded a Police commendation for saving a woman from being mugged. You get the point? He was a pillar and a beloved leader of his own community. But all of that changed after he attended Trump's January 6 rally in DC. Though Joseph never attended the Capitol that day, never entered the Capitol, he was in his hotel when the breach occurred. The FBI raided his home any way in February.

Now, agents handcuffed him, detained him for four hours as they ransacked his apartment and confiscated his belongings, which he still has not gotten back. Now, that's not all. Joseph's neighbors now see him as a domestic terrorist to be shunned. It's not only ruined his life, but his health as well.

Joseph Bolanos joins me now. Joseph. I mean--

JOSEPH BOLANOS, ATTENDED PRESIDENT TRUMP'S JAN 6 SPEECH: Hi, Laura.

INGRAHAM: You say you've experienced not one but two strokes since the FBI raided your home?

BOLANOS: Yes, I did.

INGRAHAM: What?

BOLANOS: Yes, February the first one, and they call them mild. But I don't think it was that mild because I had a second one on May 25.

INGRAHAM: Joseph, the facts of this story are something out of the Soviet Union. OK.

BOLANOS: I came back to New York the next day. And I received a voice message that weekend, actually on the 10th from an FBI agent with a 202 area code. And I called him on Monday, got his voicemail and never heard back from him.

About Feb - excuse me, January - February 4, I was staying at my mother's as my mother is presently in a rehab. She's got dementia, she's 94 years old. And at 6 o'clock the door was - someone was banging on the door and I answered and it was 4 - 3 males, 1 female, claiming to be detectives or JTTF. I let them in. And basically they asked me if I was part of BLM, Proud Boys, Antifa. I said, no. Not at all. I said, I was there, but I wasn't there when the breach happened, and I don't condone any criminality or violence.

So I showed them a video, which was a composite of three videos. They said, can you make us a copy? I said, sure. When you're innocent, you really cooperate, which is I think was my biggest mistake. Yes. And so I made them the thumb drive. And they said, thank you very much. I hope your mother feels better and they left.

That week, Thursday, I was sleeping on the couch. And 6 o'clock in the morning, I hear, Boom, boom, boom, "FBI, open the door. Open the door, or we'll knock it down." Something to that effect. And one was pointing an assault rifle at my head about four feet away. And I was sitting there confused and they said, please step outside. I stepped outside. They handcuffed me. I said, what is this about? And they said, search warrant. They never produced one, they never showed it. Nothing.

So I had only my (inaudible). They said get him a coat, get him his jeans and boots, and they took me downstairs.

INGRAHAM: OK. Yes, and then what happened?

BOLANOS: In the car they had me for almost four hours. And they were asking me questions, and it seems like such a short

(CROSSTALK)

INGRAHAM: Did you ask to speak to a lawyer?

BOLANOS: No. No, because I was cooperating.

INGRAHAM: Have you gotten any of your materials? Did they take your phone, or the laptop? Did you get any of that back?

BOLANOS: They took three phones about four, I'm a tech, so I have a lot of technology. They took about three or four computers. They took - I'm a ham radio operator, they took two amateur radios. I mean, they took probably over $10,000 worth of equipment.

And I was asking lawyers and saying "Listen, how can I get my equipment? Because of my medical records, my mother's records." They said don't go near it. Don't ask them for anything. And I said to myself, I'm innocent. What do I have to be - what do I have to worry about? It looked like--

INGRAHAM: So no charges filed, no, you haven't heard from them since?

BOLANOS: Nothing. And you have to wonder, Laura, why they wouldn't check--

INGRAHAM: Yes. Why they - I got it. But what does this make you feel about this FBI and what this was all about?

BOLANOS: I've always been a law and order person. I've always supported FBI. I've worked with them in the past in my early years in security. I'm crushed right now.

INGRAHAM: I hope you get your materials back. I hope you get your phone back, hope you get your computers back. Your lawyer should make an effort to get your all - everything back and file a motion in federal court to get that back.

Read this article:
'The Ingraham Angle' on illegal immigration crisis, Harris' trip to border - Fox News

EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) As civil rights advocates advised local governments not to participate in Texas Gov. Greg Abbotts border actions, the governor on Friday issued a pair of requests in his effort to address what he called a crisis at the border.

The governors office issued a statewide call for jailers to assist border sheriffs who could anticipate an increase in the arrests of undocumented immigrants. Abbott also urges counties to submit a two-year projected budget for possible reimbursements for expenses related to the migrant surge, money state lawmakers would be asked to approve.

Abbot has repeatedly accused the Biden administration of failing to respond to an increase in illegal immigration at the Texas-Mexico border. In a news release issued Friday, Abbott said, the State of Texas will not tolerate criminal activity, which is why we are stepping up to address this crisis in the Biden Administrations absence.

Abbotts requests come nearly a month after his May 31 proclamation declaring a state of disaster for 34 Texas counties, due to the dramatic increase in the number of undocumented immigrants being encountered by U.S. Border Patrol agents.

Border Patrol agents and CBP officers encountered or apprehended 180,034 migrants in May, a slight increase over the 178,000 taken in during April. Along with the 172,000 encounters in March, federal immigration officials have now detained more than 530,000 foreign nationals making unauthorized entries in the past three months.

The governors declaration, however, directs the Texas Department of Public Safety to use its resources to enforce federal and state criminal laws for criminal trespassing, illegal entry, smuggling and human trafficking.

Before that, Abbott had launched Operation Lone Star, which in March sent 1,000 DPS troopers to border communities to deter irregular border crossings.

When Abbott held a Border Security Summit on June 10 in Del Rio, he announced that individuals who enter the country illegally would be subject to jail time of up to a year.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Texas on Thursday warned county leaders that engaging in immigration enforcement violates the U.S. Constitution.

In a letter sent to all 34 counties, the ACLU of Texas advised against the participation of local law enforcement in Abbotts unilateral efforts to set federal immigration policy, arrest and detain immigrants, and deter people from seeking protection in the United States.

The ACLU noted that in the U.S. noncitizens have the legal right to seek asylum and other protections, adding that arresting and detaining immigrants due to their immigration status is unconstitutional.

In a statement, ACLU of Texas attorney Kate Huddleston said Abbott cannot seek to enforce his own version of immigration policy.

County officials will be in violation of the law if they enforce the governors plan, Huddleston said in a news release issued Thursday. The federal government, not states or local governments, sets immigration policy and enforces immigration law. Yet again, the governor is targeting immigrants and inciting fear and xenophobia in our state. These moves are a cruel distraction from the real problems facing the state, such as fixing the failing state electrical grid.

Abbott on Friday said the state is looking for jailers with supervisory and release experience and current or former jailers who were honorably discharged within the last two years. The governor is also calling for trained booking officers who have experience with the Texas Law Enforcement Telecommunications System (TLETS) and the Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS).

Abbottss disaster declaration directs the Texas Commission on Jail Standards and the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement to work with counties to ensure jails had enough beds for undocumented immigrants arrested for crimes such as trespassing. It also surges resources into border communities to make arrests and to help set up and maintain extra jail space.

Part of our comprehensive efforts to secure the border include enforcing all state and federal laws, which is why we are calling on jailers and sheriffs across the state to volunteer support for our border sheriffs. Working together, we will secure the border and keep our communities safe, Abbott said in a news release.

Part of our comprehensive efforts to secure the border include enforcing all state and federal laws, which is why we are calling on jailers and sheriffs across the state to volunteer support for our border sheriffs. Working together, we will secure the border and keep our communities safe.

In its letter, the ACLU informs local leaders of the limitations on their authority to engage in actions that seek to enforce federal immigration law.

This is in part because treatment of immigrants within the United States is one of the most important and delicate matters in foreign relations, an area entrusted by the Constitution to the federal government, the letter reads. Congress has enacted federal law governing who may be removed from the United States and under what circumstances; providing for pathways for people who have reached the country fleeing violence to seek protection; and authorizing federal immigration enforcement in specific circumstances.

The ACLUs letter also formally requests information about guidance that local officials have received from the state, as well as local cooperation with state efforts to arrest immigrants to date, including any arrests or prosecutions they might have carried out.

To read the ACLU of Texass letter to the 34 counties targeted by Abbott, click here.

Abbott, meanwhile, is urging county judges across Texas to submit their two-year projected budget for expenses related to the ongoing migrant influx. Counties can submit budget projections through the online Border Budget Forecast Form to be used by the State of Texas to request additional border security funding from the Legislature during the upcoming Special Session, according to a news release.

As the Biden Administration continues to ignore the crisis at the border, the State of Texas is stepping in to ensure our counties have the resources and support they need to keep their communities safe, Abbott said. I urge County Judges to fill out the Border Budget Forecast Form by July 9th to ensure the State of Texas has the information needed to secure additional funding to combat the ongoing crisis at our southern border.

The 34 counties that received the ACLU letter are Brewster, Brooks, Cameron, Crockett, Culberson, Dimmit, Duval, Edwards, El Paso, Goliad, Gonzales, Hidalgo, Hudspeth, Jeff Davis, Jim Hogg, Kenedy, Kinney, La Salle, Lavaca, Maverick, McMullen, Pecos, Presidio, Real, Reeves, Starr, Sutton, Terrell, Uvalde, Val Verde, Webb, Willacy, Zapata and Zavala.

In advising localities, the ACLU of Texas is also asking agencies to adopt policies that train local law enforcement officers to ensure they do not violate the Constitution or federal law when interacting with immigrants, including refraining from making stops based on perceived immigration status, race, ethnicity or language.

See original here:
Texas counties warned against participating in governors border actions - Border Report

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (NSF) - More than 50 state law-enforcement officers will depart Monday for Texas and Arizona to help with border control, Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Friday during an appearance in Pensacola.

The announcement came after DeSantis earlier in the month said Florida would support a request from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey for help in battling illegal immigration at the border.

Democrats have described the deployment of Florida law officers to the border as a "political stunt" by DeSantis.

DeSantis said Friday he anticipates traveling to the border to visit the state officers while they are deployed. Former President Donald Trump, a DeSantis political ally, also is expected to visit the border Wednesday.

"Hopefully, I'll be able to get out there at some point to wish them well, when they're on the ground," DeSantis said Friday while at an Interstate 10 weigh station, accompanied by members of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the Florida Highway Patrol.

Officers from those three agencies will head west next week.

DeSantis said the mutual-aid effort will protect Florida, in part because of drugs crossing the border and landing in areas such as North Florida.

"I had met just weeks ago with some of our rural sheriffs up in North Florida, and their number one concern is all the meth that's coming in," DeSantis said.

"And all the meth is coming from the Southern border," DeSantis continued. "Now, you used to have where people would cook it themselves, and all this stuff like that is just not what's happening. What's happening is a massive amount of drugs moving in from the Southern border. So, this has real effects on Florida communities."

Other Republican governors also are backing the request from Abbott and Ducey for officers to go to the border, as the GOP tries to capitalize on public-safety issues ahead of the 2022 midterm elections.

Idaho Gov. Brad Little and Nebraska Gov.Pete Rickettslast week announced plans to send troopers toTexas, and Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds followed suit Thursday.

"My first responsibility is to the health and safety of Iowans, and the humanitarian crisis at our nations Southern border is affecting all 50 states," Reynolds said in a prepared statement.

Individual deployments are expected to last 16 days.

Abbott and Ducey estimated about 500 officers would be needed.

Costs for the deployment of Florida officers are expected to be picked up by Florida.

"That's still a point of discussion," DeSantis said. "I mean, if someone would help us, we would pick up some of their funding. And so, that's how we would hope that it goes. But we don't anticipate getting any federal funds."

The state officers could be relieved by sheriffs deputies from counties that have backed DeSantis deployment plans.

"We've got a lot of folks in the queue, "DeSantis said. "And there's different ways the locals can support. If these guys are going out and there's ever a need to backfill what they're doing in Florida, then the locals can send and backfill that, while they're doing the border. We also can send locals, but we were able to meet the need with the state resources to start."

The deployment comes as the state is in court trying to block Biden administration immigration-enforcement decisions. Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody has argued that the Biden administration has shirked its responsibilities in enforcing immigration laws and threatened public safety.

View original post here:
Florida officers going to U.S.-Mexico border next week to help with illegal immigration - FOX 35 Orlando

Sign up for The Brief, our daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news.

Over the past year, Gov. Greg Abbott has issued disaster declarations across the state for a number of tragedies: the coronavirus pandemic that killed more than 50,000 Texans, a winter storm that left millions of people in freezing temperatures without power for days, hurricanes and floods that wiped out homes and local infrastructure.

The disaster declarations give the governor broad power to suspend state laws and regulations that hinder a jurisdictions recovery from a disaster and to allow the use of available resources to respond to the disaster.

Then, on May 31, the two-term Republican governor who is seeking reelection next year took the unprecedented step of declaring a disaster for 34 counties based on an increase of illegal immigration at the Texas-Mexico border. The declaration allowed Abbott to request the reallocation of $250 million of legislatively appropriated funds toward a border wall construction project pushed by his office.

Its extraordinarily unusual, said Jon Taylor, professor of political science at the University of Texas at San Antonio. Traditionally, its used for natural disasters, he added, though state law does allow for its use for some man-made disasters.

Abbotts move raises questions about the executive branchs emergency powers, rekindling concerns raised during the early days of COVID-19 last year when Abbott used his broad emergency powers to enact restrictions shutting down businesses to curb the pandemic. In response, the Legislature tried without success to rein in Abbotts authority this session.

But now, critics are questioning whether an increase in illegal immigration constitutes a disaster that merits emergency action by the governor.

State Rep. John Turner, D-Dallas, said Abbotts use of a disaster declaration to reallocate legislatively appropriated funds to a project from his office stretches the concept of emergency authority to its breaking point.

A governor should not be able to circumvent the legislative process by declaring such matters to be emergencies and then implementing whatever measures he wishes, Turner said in a statement. If a governor can commence such a long-term, multi-hundred-million-dollar public works project under the cover of emergency powers, it is difficult to know what the limits of those powers are.

I hope the Legislature will reassert its authority and resist this ill-considered action by the Governor, he added.

Under the Texas government code, governors are allowed to declare disasters for an occurrence or imminent threat of widespread or severe damage, injury, loss of life or property resulting from any natural or man-made cause. The code gives the executive branch broad authority that covers natural disasters, like fires, hurricanes,and storms, as well as man-made catastrophes like riots, hostile military action and cybersecurity events.

Renae Eze, a spokeswoman for Abbott, said the governor is acting together with leaders in both chambers of the Legislature, who signed off on his request to transfer legislative funds for the border wall last week. She said the action was warranted because of a 20-year record high of migrant crossings at the border.

This is not a red or blue issuethis is a public safety issue, she said. President Bidens reckless open border policies have led to a crisis along our southern border Until the Biden Administration starts doing their job, Texas is stepping up to secure our southern border and protect Texans.

In a news conference last week, Abbott acknowledged that his move stepped outside of the historical precedent for disaster declarations.

I am unaware of a governor ever declaring a disaster at county requests because of the tidal wave of illegal immigrants coming across the border, wrecking havoc in communities and residents who live here in Texas, he said.

Abbott said the flow of illegal immigration through the state had cost Texas billions of dollars and thousands of hours of staff resources while hurting border residents whose properties were damaged and lives were threatened. Eze said this week that the Department of Public Safety has also seized 95 pounds of fentanyl smuggled across the border this year, which puts other areas of the state at risk.

In 2019, President Donald Trump declared a national emergency at the border as he sought to fulfill a campaign promise to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. Trump similarly said the emergency declaration was needed to stop illegal drug trafficking, human trafficking and gang violence.

Trump also faced backlash over executive overreach but his emergency order stayed in place until February when the Biden administration formally ended it.

Alberto Gonzales, a former U.S. Attorney General and Texas Supreme Court justice, said he generally supports having statutory authority within the governors office to respond to almost any kind of crisis because its hard to anticipate all the emergencies that might arise. Gonzales said he was speaking broadly because he did not have first-hand knowledge of the issues surrounding Abbotts declaration.

Gonzales, now dean of the Belmont University College of Law, said his experience as White House counsel for President George W. Bush during the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks have shaped his views of executive authority.

Only the executive can respond quickly and decisively, in unexpected emergencies, he said.

In exchange for allowing strong emergency powers, lawmakers should demand strict accountability once the disaster has passed, including complete disclosure of the actions taken by the executive branch and an accounting of how state funds were used, Gonzales said.

Abbott critics could still argue that an increase of illegal immigration does not meet the standards for a disaster declaration and gives the governor power he would not have under normal circumstances, Taylor said.

The disaster declaration allows the state to transfer money already appropriated in the budget to respond to the disaster. In this case, the state will transfer $250 million appropriated by lawmakers for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice to Abbotts border wall initiative. State officials have said they will identify funding to replace that money in the agencys budget.

Lawmakers who oppose the wall could argue that their authority over the states purse strings is being side-stepped by the governor for his own initiative.

Its absolutely an encroachment, Taylor said. That gives a lot more authority than what I think people interpreted under the Texas constitution. This has been a problem for legislature-gubernatorial relations since at least Ann Richards but definitely since [Rick] Perry. There's been a decided push to expand gubernatorial power whenever possible.

Last year, Democrats and Republicans complained that Abbott had overstepped his authority through his orders to curb COVID-19. Democrats criticized the governor for not deferring to local officials, who they argued were better positioned to make decisions for their communities. And Republicans blasted Abbotts orders to shut down businesses and require masks.

The Legislature debated curbing the governors emergency powers during this years regular session, but the Senate and House had different approaches to the issue and were unable to reach a compromise before lawmakers returned home.

The Senate rallied around two proposals by state Sen. Brian Birdwell, R-Granbury, that would have applied to all declared disasters. The legislation, which would have needed a sign off from Texas voters before it could take effect, would have required the governor to call a special session to declare a state emergency that lasts longer than 30 days. The special session would give lawmakers the chance to terminate or adjust executive actions taken by the governor, or pass new laws related to the disaster or emergency.

In the House, state Rep. Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock, spearheaded House Bill 3, a sweeping piece of legislation that would have curbed emergency powers only during a pandemic as opposed to all disasters, which include hurricanes and tornadoes. Neither Burrows' nor Birdwells offices responded to requests for comment.

But neither of the Republican-dominated chambers seems opposed to Abbotts use of a disaster declaration to tackle illegal immigration.

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and House Speaker Dade Phelan flanked Abbott at a news conference on the subject last week, and the respective chambers chief budget writers Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Flower Mound, and Rep. Greg Bonnen, R-Friendswood, signed off on the transfer of budgeted funds for Abbotts down payment for the border wall.

Phelan, a Beaumont Republican in his first term as speaker, said earlier this month that lawmakers will debate curbing the governors emergency powers again at some point but deferred to Abbott on whether it will be included in a special session agenda. Phelan has said he sees no need for lawmakers to convene during natural disasters.

Can you imagine trying to have a special session in an off-year, everyone coming up to Austin when they need to be back home taking care of their constituents? Phelan said during an interview with the Tribune after the regular legislative session.

State Rep. Chris Turner, who chairs the House Democratic Caucus, said Abbotts focus on immigration at the border is all about politics.

I think the governor should have emergency powers in certain circumstances because emergencies do arise, Turner said. But, he added, the fact that Trump is going to tour the border with him next week is proof that this is more about Republican primary politics than it is serious policy.

Abbott has dismissed those criticisms as nonsense.

Taylor said as long as the legislative and executive branches are dominated by the same party and agree on the issue being tackled by a disaster declaration, there is no incentive for lawmakers to try to rein in the governors power. Under those circumstances, Abbott may keep testing the limits of his office.

Its the idea of, he saw an opening, he took the opening, Taylor said. It suggests to me that hes thinking Stop me until I spend again.

But even if lawmakers do not push back on Abbotts emergency power, Gonzales said valid questions remain. The governors opponents could argue in federal court that the state is usurping the federal governments responsibility over immigration enforcement and preempt Abbotts actions.

They could also challenge what constitutes a disaster.

If something is anticipated can you really call it an emergency? Gonzales said. Is there time for the Legislature to take action? Is there time for the executive to sit down with the Legislature and say This is the problem, heres the action Id like you to take?

Disclosure: The University of Texas at San Antonio has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

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Gov. Greg Abbott is using a disaster declaration to help fund a border wall. Democrats say it's an overreach of executive powers. - The Texas Tribune