Mediaboss Marketing

Welcome to Byron York's Daily Memo newsletter.

Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up here to receive the newsletter.

A RENEWED, INTENSIFIED CRISIS AT THE BORDER. The Twitter feed of Fox News reporter Bill Melugin has been an extraordinary place for the last few days. Melugin has spent a lot of time reporting from the U.S.-Mexico border, and recently he began telling readers about a surge in illegal crossers at the international bridge in Del Rio, Texas.

The crossers are coming by the thousands, Melugin reported . "Per source, the number of migrants waiting to be processed has now swelled to approximately 8,200," Melugin tweeted Thursday morning. "It was 4,000 yesterday AM. Doubled in one day. Border Patrol overwhelmed, and I'm told the situation is 'out of control.'" Melugin included dramatic photos showing the extent of the situation:

Subscribe today to the Washington Examiner magazine that will keep you up to date with what's going on in Washington. SUBSCRIBE NOW: Just $1.00 an issue!

Early reports say many of the migrants massing at the border are Haitians, which just serves to illustrate the point that the border crisis is not just a matter of crossers from Mexico or Central America. Officials say they have seen people from at least 90 countries from all around the globe illegally crossing into the United States. The Washington Post reports that authorities are expecting "thousands more in the coming days."

The crowds are coming as a direct result of Biden administration policies. Upon taking office in January, the president un-did President Donald Trump's "Remain in Mexico" policy. He suspended Trump asylum agreements with Northern Triangle countries. President Joe Biden has made clear that many illegal crossers will be allowed to stay in the U.S. He has stopped handing out notices to appear in court to those who are released into the country. He temporarily halted deportations. He weakened rules allowing U.S. officials to return illegal crossers in the interest of controlling the spread of COVID-19.

And now, amid the continuing crisis at the border it never went away, even if news coverage turned to other things Democrats in Washington are planning extraordinary measures to increase the pace of immigration in the U.S. In this way:

Advocates of comprehensive immigration reform desperately want to amend the Immigration and Naturalization Act in order to legalize illegal immigrants and open the nation's doors to more immigration. But lawmakers have considered such proposals several times over the last 15 years and chosen not to pass them, opting instead to keep the law as it is. In other words, Congress has repeatedly acted by not acting.

Now, Democrats have come up with a new plan to make an end-run around Senate rules and pass the most far-reaching immigration measure in decades. The plan is this: Congress has to pass a budget. The rules allow senators to use a process called reconciliation to bypass the filibuster and pass the budget with a simple majority. But the rules also say reconciliation can only be used to pass a measure that is germane to the budget, that it must have some "fiscal impact."

The general understanding is that Congress cannot use reconciliation to pass just any policy measure attached to a budget. It has to be germane. Still, lawmakers can propose using reconciliation for all sorts of things. It is up to the Senate parliamentarian to decide whether the proposal is germane and thus can be included in a reconciliation measure with the rest of the budget.

That is what Democrats are trying to do now. They have written a measure that would be a historic expansion of immigration and are seeking to attach it to the budget bill. That way, the immigration bill will never be debated on its own, nor will there be a specific vote for or against it. It would simply be included in the giant budget bill, and senators who voted for the budget would also be voting for the biggest immigration change in memory. And now, the time for decision comes against the backdrop of a newly growing crisis at the border.

For a deeper dive into many of the topics covered in the Daily Memo, please listen to my podcast, The Byron York Show available on the Ricochet Audio Network and everywhere else podcasts can be found. You can use this link to subscribe .

See the original post here:
Byron York's Daily Memo: A renewed, intensified crisis at the border - Washington Examiner

Democrats are trying to use a $3.5 trillion spending bill to pass amnesty for millions of illegal aliens streaming into the U.S. under the Biden administration.

Citizenship will boost our GDP by $1.5 trillion. It would generate billions in tax revenue and create about 400,000 new jobs, claims Zaira Garcia with the pro-immigration lobbying group fwd.us.

This is as close as we've come to being able to pass relief for the undocumented community that is essential to our workforce and to our economy, she told WOAI in San Antonio.

Opponents argue criminal aliens would be put on a path to citizenship.

Murderers, rapists, child molesters, drug dealers, thieves, burglars and kidnappers all would have the opportunity to remain in this country if the removal would result in family separation or hardship here in the United States, says Art Arthur, resident fellow in law and policy at the Center for Immigration Studies.

Arthur says it's unlikely those given amnesty would ever contribute enough to cover the cost of taxpayer funded benefits. And he says it comes amid a sluggish economic recovery from COVID.

Inner-city youth, members of minority groups and certain immigrants have not adjusted to life here thus far, he says. The jobs really should go to those individuals primarily, rather than be given to people who enter the United States illegally.

Read the original here:
Reconciliation Bill Includes Amnesty for Millions of Aliens | NewsRadio 740 KTRH - NewsRadio 740 KTRH

The United States is now requiring all new immigrants applying for permanent residency to be vaccinated against Covid-19 as part of their immigration medical examination, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced on Tuesday.

However, the new rule will not apply to migrants crossing the southern border illegally.

Anyone crossing the border has had the option to get the Johnson & Johnson vaccine at various patrol sites since early August, but it will still be on a voluntary basis and no one will need to show proof of vaccination to enter the country.

In a statement about the new mandate, which will be effective October 1,the USCIS wrote that anyone applying to become a lawful permanent resident, and other applicants as deemed necessary, must undergo an immigration medical examination to show they are free from any conditions that would render them inadmissible under the health-related grounds.

All new immigrants applying for permanent residency must be vaccinated against Covid-19 as part of their immigration medical examination, butthe new rule will not apply to migrants crossing the southern border illegally

Anyone crossing the border has had the option to get vaccinated since early August, but it is on a voluntary basis and migrants will still not need the shot or proof of vaccination toenter the country. Above, migrants are seen crossing the Rio Grande river

Most immigrants seeking a green card will be subject to the vaccine mandate, including asylum seekers, refugees and migrants adjusting their status to permanent residence. Those applying for temporary residency will only be subject to the mandate in certain cases, the USCIS states.

Migrants seeking asylum or refugee status from within the US will not be required to have the shot, unless they seek an adjustment of status the departments phrase to describe applying for a green card.

That application in itself can take years. The I-693 form must be submitted within 60 days of its completion, but it does not have to be submitted at the start of the adjustment of status application process.

That means an applicant could hold off on getting their vaccine while waiting to be called for an interview, or asked to provide a piece of evidence supporting their claim.

It also means that any asylum seeker or refugee who does seek to become a permanent resident would potentially not have to comply with the vaccine requirement for a lengthy period of time after their initial arrival in the US.

Adults caught crossing the southern border illegally are immediately returned to Mexico, as part of a Trump-era policy continued by the Biden administration.

Families with children are allowed to enter the US and can begin an asylum application after being processed.

Anyone seeking permanent citizenship must visit a doctor designated by the USCIS as a civil surgeon eligible to conduct the immigration medical examination and sign Form I-693, or a Report of Medical Examination and Vaccination Record.

The Covid-19 vaccination will be added to the CDCs list of shots required to complete the examination, which also includes varicella, the flu, pneumococcal pneumonia, rotavirus, Hepatitis A, meningococcal disease.

The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 established a precedent for vaccine mandate and required immigrants to be vaccinated against the mumps, measles, rubella, polio, tetanus, diphtheria toxoids, pertussis, haemophilius influenza type B and Hepatitis B.

Anyone seeking permanent citizenship must visit a doctor designated by the USCIS as a civil surgeon eligible to conduct the immigration medical examination and sign Form I-693, or a Report of Medical Examination and Vaccination Record

The above chart from the USCIS details which groups of immigrants are subject to the medical examination and vaccination requirements

Most immigrants seeking a green card will be subject to the vaccine mandate, including asylum seekers, refugees and migrants adjusting their status

Exemptions to the mandate apply if applicants are under 12 and therefore not yet eligible for the Covid-19 vaccination, if the vaccine if not routinely available where the civil surgeon practices or if a limit in the countrys vaccine supply would delay the process of completing the medical examination.

Applicants could also seek exemptions for medical or religious reasons by completing Form I-601, the Application for Waiver of Grounds of Inadmissibility.

President Joe Bidens administration in early August rolled out the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine to migrants as they await processing by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, The Washington Post reported last month, citing sources in the Department of Homeland Security.

The vaccine is offered to those facing deportation as well as though released into the United States pending a court hearing. Migrants who are being sent back to Mexico under the Title 42 public health law are not offered a shot.

According to a report last month, Immigration and Customs Enforcement has been stepping up vaccinations at the border, but thousands of immigrants have refused.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said last Friday at a press briefing that the administrations goal is to get as many people vaccinated across the country as humanly possible. But she breezed by a question about why businesses face a new mandate without a policy for vaccinating migrants at the southern border

Bidens new vaccine rules for private employers will affect about 80 million workers in the US and has faced backlash by a number ofRepublican lawmakers

Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich filed a lawsuit on Tuesday and argued that it violates the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment

The USCIS announcement for those seeking permanent residency comes amid a surge in vaccine requirements by the Biden administration, which last week mandated the shot for federal workers and staff at businesses with 100 or more employees. Employers that do not enforce the mandate could face a $14,000 fine.

At last Fridays press briefing about the new mandate, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki was grilled by a reporter about not requiring the shot for illegal migrants crossing the border. She got asked about the juxtaposed policies by Fox News correspondent Peter Doocy.

The reporter at first asked her, Why is it that youre trying to require anybody with a job, or anybody who has a job, or anybody who goes to school, to get a COVID-19 vaccine, but youre not requiring that of migrants who continue to walk across the southern border.

Psaki responded that the objective is to get as many people vaccinated across the country as humanly possible, adding that when more people are vaccinated, whether they are migrants or whether they are workers, protects more people in the United States.

Doocy then pressed Psaki, saying: Vaccines are required for people at a business with more than 100 people. It is not a requirment for migrants at the border. Why?

Thats correct, she responded, quickly brushing off the question and moving on.

Many have taken to social media to criticize the administrations decision to force vaccine mandates on Americans while illegal immigrants arent held to the same standards when entering the country.

Twitter user Todd Hudnall wrote, Are you aware the Biden Vaccine Mandate does not apply to migrants pouring across the border? It is quite clear these mandates arent really about public health or stopping a virus.

Laurie Roberts, a columnist for azcentral.com, condemned the policies in an op-ed piece and tweeted, In what universe does it make sense for Biden to let border crossers decline a COVID vaccination while coercing American workers to get the jab?

Benny Johnson, who runs a podcast called The Benny Show, shared a clip of the press briefing on Twitter and repeated the exchange, writing, [Doocy]: Vaccines are required for people at a business with more than 100 people. It is not a requirement for migrants at the border. Why? Psaki: Thats correct WHAT?!?!

Pradheep J. Shanker wrote in a tweet, And apparently I got my answer. The Biden admin is requiring legal Americans to get the vaccine, but not forcing those crossing the border illegally to get it. What an insane, unscientific policy that is.

Republican New York Representative Claudia Tenney slammed Biden on Twitter and wrote, Biden gave thousands of guns to the Taliban but wants to take yours away. Illegal aliens get hotel rooms while thousands of veterans are homeless. COVID positive migrants are flooding across the border while Americans get fired over their vaccine status. Bidens America.

And Twitter user Andrew Hudson tweeted, Migrants walking across the southern border arent required to get a vaccine, but everyone else in this country who goes to work is? Where does the hypocrisy stop.

Meanwhile, Republican lawmakers are threatening legal action against the Biden administration and claim the president is favoring unlawful migrants by not requiring the shot of them.

Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich, who is running in a crowded GOP primary to unseat Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly, filed a lawsuit against the administration on Tuesday and argued that the vaccine mandate violates the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution.

Migrants who cross the southern border illegally are not subject to any vaccination requirements even when released directly into the United States, Brnovich said in a statement.

This reflects an unmistakable and unconstitutional brand of favoritism in favor of illegal migrants.

However, undocumented immigrants are required to be vaccinated or complete regular Covid-19 tests if they seek employment.

The Biden administration is pushing to increase vaccinations after rates have stagnated in recent days after a slight incline last month. Over 63percent of Americans have received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine, with 54 percent of the countrys population fully vaccinated, according to Our World in Data.

US will mandate the COVID-19 vaccination of all new immigrants, but not illegal border crossers Source link US will mandate the COVID-19 vaccination of all new immigrants, but not illegal border crossers

See original here:
US will mandate the COVID-19 vaccination of all new immigrants, but not illegal border crossers - Texasnewstoday.com

Biden administration officials hoped the summer heat would give them a respite from questions about the illegal immigration crisis the president created, and now publicly ignores. But the latest statistics from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency should remind them that, when you signal that the federal government is no longer interested in enforcing the law at our borders, an ensuing surge of illegal immigration is inevitable. The numbers showed that rather than going downas usually happens when the intense summer heat makes the already difficult passage from Mexico even more dangerousarrests at the border reached a 21-year high.

Yet despite the urgent nature of the crisis, the administration continues to do virtually nothing about it. It is constrained in large measure by the antipathy of the Democratic Party base toward enforcement of existing immigration laws, and the president's own clear intention to loosen efforts to stop illegal border crossings and deport those who are in the country illegally. Resuming work on a border wall associated with his predecessor is out of the question. So are efforts to reinforce the beleaguered Border Patrol or to unleash the Immigration and Customs Enforcement to do its job.

Indeed, the Biden administration has been quietly rooting for the courts to reinstate orders issued by former president Donald Trump that made it harder to exploit the asylum application process to get into the country.

While it talks about addressing root causes of the immigration problem, the White House knows that no possible amount of aid to Guatemala, Honduras or El Salvador will persuade the people of those impoverished countries that entering the United States isn't worth gambling their lives and the lives of their children. And since Biden and his party remain hellbent on slipping an immigration reform packagewhich includes a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants and gives short shrift to border securityinto their massive budget bill, messages urging migrants not to come aren't persuading many.

That leaves administration officials with a growing problem that they, as Democrats, have no politically acceptable means of addressing. Yet the White House seems to think there is no cost in letting the problem fester. It's easy enough to see whythe fiasco in Afghanistan has dominated news cycles in recent weeks, and although Republicans continue to sound the alarm about what is happening at the border, the mainstream press continues to either ignore or downplay a crisis that Democrats prefer to deny.

But Biden and his policy advisers would be foolish to think they can afford to neglect illegal immigration as an issue. That's not just because the surge is causing havoc and alienating voters in border states, including Hispanic citizens who fear crime and other social pathologies associated with illegal immigration just as much as anyone else. Rather, by allowing the population of illegal immigrants to grow even morethe popular 11 million figure is likely a drastic underestimateBiden's amnesty plans appear to be an attempt to create more voters for the Democrats.

The administration is right to think that, as a general rule, the public regards immigrants with sympathy. But it is wrong to ignore the collapsing rule of law at the border, as GOP rhetoric about Biden wanting "open borders" is starting to look more like an accurate assessment than a partisan talking point.

The fact that nearly 200,000 were apprehended at the border in Julyalong with what is likely to be an even more staggering figure of those who were not caughtmakes clear that the surge that began after the 2020 election is not only not subsiding but gaining momentum.

The implications of this problem aren't limited to concerns about the porous nature of the border or the growing population of illegal immigrants residing in the United States. It's also a humanitarian catastrophe, as resources available to federal authorities to deal with those in custody are barely adequate to the task while those waiting across the border in Mexico are living in utter squalor. Just as disturbing is the growing number of bodies found of those who perished in the course of unsuccessful attempts to evade border patrolmany succumbed to the elements or were simply left behind to die by exploitative coyotes who don't bother with those who fail to keep up.

The administration appears indifferent to the question of whether the tide of illegal immigration is contributing to the current spread of the coronavirus pandemic, which state and federal officials are struggling to contain. Liberals insist that, contrary to logic, the flow of a considerableand largely unvaccinatedpopulation hasn't worsened the impact of the disease. Meanwhile, President Biden is assuming new, constitutionally unfounded powers to mandate vaccinations for both public- and private-sector workers (with some significant, politically motivated possible exceptions like postal workers). But the fact he isn't ordering that those who are apprehended at the border be vaccinated suggests, once again, Democrats regard illegal immigrants as a group to whom all sorts of exemptions must be applied.

Biden set off this problem with his own ill-considered remarks about a "more humane" policy. His posturing provoked a post-Election Day surge of border crossings from those who concluded, not unreasonably, that his administration was flashing a welcome sign to anyone who hadn't gone through the process of gaining legal entry to the United States. But though the president has sought to backtrack from that promise, the amnesty proposals he unveiled in his first days of office, and his continuing efforts to implement them, haven't slowed the wave of illegal immigration.

As with so much else he has done in his first months in office, Biden is stubbornly proceeding as if there is no need to address the consequences of his own remarks and actions. Neither he nor White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki will call what is happening a crisis, but that doesn't mean it isn't one. For an administration that came into office promising both honesty and competence, the non-response to illegal immigration is revealing that Biden will provide neither.

Jonathan S. Tobin is editor in chief of JNS.org, a senior contributor to The Federalist and a columnist for the New York Post. Follow him on Twitter at: @jonathans_tobin.

The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.

See the original post here:
Biden Ignores the Border Crisis He Created At His Political Peril | Opinion - Newsweek

The 9/11 attacks precipitated the largest reorganization of federal agencies since the establishment of the Department of Defense in 1947. The Homeland Security Act of 2002 established a Department of Homeland Security, transferring 22 organizations into the new department. The U.S. Border Patrol was one of those organizations.

The act also created the worlds first unified border-security agency: U.S. Customs and Border Protection, of which the Border Patrol became an integral part. Much has changed for the Border Patrol since then, but its fundamental mission, to detect and prevent illegal entry and all threats into the United States, has not changed.

In 2001, the Border Patrol was under-resourced and had only 6,000 agents to protect 6,000 miles of land borders and 2,000 miles of coasts. In comparison, during the Cold War, the U.S. maintained a force of approximately 250,000 troops in West Germany to help protect 670 miles of land border.

The Border Patrol also lacked modern surveillance systems, the physical infrastructure to prevent border crossings in critical (e.g., urban) areas, and a national command structure. Despite these limitations, this thin green line apprehended more than one million people for illegal entry into the U.S. each year in the 10 years prior to the agency reorganization.

Today, the Border Patrol is a much more capable and professional organization. Approximately 18,000 agents protect our borders between ports of entry. Some 700 miles of sturdy anti-vehicle and pedestrian barriers and walls have been erected in highly trafficked areas of the U.S.-Mexico border.

Situational awareness and response capabilities along our land borders have increased significantly as a result of continued investment in multiple surveillance systems. And cooperation with Canadian and Mexican immigration and law enforcement agencies has significantly reduced the threat of persons-of-interest or potential terrorists from infiltrating across our land borders.

However, the Border Patrol and other federal agencies with immigration-control responsibilities still face significant challenges. Following construction of 650 miles of barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border during the Bush administration, the number of illegal border crossings dropped significantly, and Border Patrol apprehended fewer than 500,000 people per year.

As a result of significantly increased immigration-control measures at air, land, and seaports of entry, the U.S.-Mexico border is the principal vector for illegal entry into the United States. In July 2021, the Border Patrol apprehended 200,000 people, reflecting a fundamental shift in the drivers of migration flows and levels not seen in 20 years.

Conditions in countries that incentivize emigration, such as violence, poor governance and limited economic opportunities, cannot be changed unilaterally by the United States. However, factors that attract immigration to the United States, such as low risks of apprehension when entering the U.S., lack of consequences when apprehended, lax enforcement of immigration laws within the United States, family anchors, ineffective asylum policies and the ability to work without the requisite permit, can be controlled by the U.S. government.

As a nation, we need to decide if we want secure borders or if the status quo near-record rates of undocumented immigration across the U.S.Mexico border is acceptable. When Border Patrol agents are diverted from their border-security mission to provide humanitarian support (which can be provided by other agencies) to migrants, our borders become less secure and the threats to the nation increase. The risks of porous borders, which include trafficking of drugs (70,000 Americans died from opioid overdoses in 2020) and the potential entry of terrorists, are well known.

If our nation does not address the factors that push and pull migrants to the United States, our borders will be less secure. The requirement to deal with massive numbers of illegal entries will detract from the Border Patrols ability to protect our borders against drug smugglers and potential terrorists, and the introduction of dangerous weapons.

Looking at border security retrospectively over the past 20 years, I think it is clear we have more secure land borders. But we have not done what is required and possible namely establish policies that dissuade illegal immigration and invest in the federal agencies that ensure our borders are secure. Comprehensive investment in border security and consistent enforcement of all laws to address immigration drivers is a must.

David Aguilar is a principal with GSIS and a former commissioner of Customs and Border Protection and former national chief of the U.S. Border Patrol. This column was first published in HS Today.

Got an opinion about this issue? Send a letter to the editor and you just might get published.

Go here to see the original:
Failing to address immigration undermines the Border Patrols ability to address real threats - The Dallas Morning News